CRICKET
Sri Lanka thrash Ireland
Sri Lanka cruised to a nine-wicket victory with five overs to spare against Ireland in both teams’ T20 World Cup Super 12 opener yesterday. After Ireland had won the toss and chose to bat first in overcast and wintry conditions at Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Australia, Sri Lanka’s bowlers made regular breakthroughs to restrict the Irish to 128-8 after 20 overs. “This is the kind of cricket we want to play,” Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka said. “We knew the spinners would play a major role in this game... Death bowling is our key area and the start is important, we did that really good. We want to continue with that confidence.” Chasing 129 for victory never proved a difficult challenge for Sri Lanka, who chased down the below-par target in 15 overs to claim the win. Kusal Mendis was the top scorer with 68 off 43 balls, with five boundaries and three sixes, including hitting a six to win the match off the final ball of the 15th over. Sri Lanka and Ireland are joined by Australia, New Zealand, England and Afghanistan in Group 1 for the second round.
RUGBY UNION
England’s women oust SA
England yesterday turned on the power to rout South Africa 75-0 in Auckland and set up a quarter-final against Australia as the last eight line-up was decided at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. A rampant England showed why they are the tournament favorites in a muscular display where forwards scored 12 of their 13 tries. Earlier, Canada beat the US 29-14 and Italy defeated Japan 21-8 to also book quarter-final berths. While they scored more tries and points than any other team, England are take a third seeding into the quarter-finals behind hosts New Zealand and Canada as they failed to earn a bonus point in last week’s 13-7 defeat of France. It means they are to face the sixth-seeded Wallaroos next week, while the other quarter-finals are to be between teams who have already met each other in pool play. The top-seeded Black Ferns are to face Wales, second seeds Canada are to repeat yesterday’s match against the US and France are to play Italy. On her tournament debut, lock Rosie Galligan scored a hat-trick of tries, while there were doubles for hooker Connie Powell and replacement flanker Sadia Kabeya.
BADMINTON
Taiwan juniors take second
Taiwan on Saturday lost 1-3 to South Korea in the final of the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships in Santander, Spain, but still claimed second place in the annual tournament — an all-time best. Undefeated in the group preliminary stage, with wins over Germany, Peru, Portugal and Georgia, Taiwan saw off England 3-0 and then edged out defending champions Indonesia 3-2 in the semi-finals. The final against South Korea started with the men’s singles. Kuo Kuan-lin lost a bruising, 65-minute match 21-14, 22-24, 19-21 to Byung Jae Kim, putting Taiwan down 0-1. After a loss in the second match, Taiwan managed to stave off elimination in the third, with the men’s doubles pairing of Huang Jui-hsuan and Tsai Fu-cheng stringing together a 21-18, 17-21, 21-13 win to bring the score to 1-2. In the fourth match, women’s doubles team Nicole Gonzales Chan and Yang Chu-yun briefly raised hopes of a Taiwan comeback with an early five-point lead, but went on to lose the first game 18-21 and the second 12-21.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
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