CRICKET
Latham ton guides NZ
Tom Latham yesterday smashed a career-best 145 not out and forged a marathon stand with skipper Kane Williamson to lead New Zealand to a seven-wicket victory against India in the first one-day international in Auckland. Williamson remained unbeaten on 94 having raised 221 runs with Latham as New Zealand chased down a victory target of 307 with 17 deliveries to spare. Latham hit five sixes and 19 fours in his 104-ball knock. Earlier, India’s top three batsmen smashed individual half-centuries — skipper Shikhar Dhawan hitting 72, Shubman Gill making 50 and Shreyas Iyer contributing 80 — before Washington Sundar provided the late flourish with an unbeaten 37 off 16 balls to propel them to 306-7 at Eden Park. New Zealand openers Finn Allen (22) and Devon Conway (24) could not build on their starts, while Daryl Mitchell made 11 before becoming debutant Umran Malik’s second victim of the match. Williamson anchored the chase while Latham turned the match on its head in the 40th over when he hit Shardul Thakur for a six and four consecutive fours en route to a 76-ball ton.
OLYMPICS
Dentsu raided amid probe
Japanese prosecutors yesterday raided the headquarters of advertising company Dentsu as an investigation into corruption related to the Tokyo Olympics widened. Dentsu dominates event organizing, marketing and public relations in Japan. It helped land the 2020 Games for Tokyo and then lined up record domestic sponsorships. Haruyuki Takahashi, a former executive at Dentsu, has been arrested four times in the past few months on charges of receiving bribes from various companies that became sponsors for the Games. The latest investigation centers around bid-rigging for companies to be picked to work on test events, Japanese media reports said. The money that exchanged hands for the bid-rigging totaled ￥500 million (US$3.6 million), involving nine companies and one organization, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and other newspapers reported. “We continue to fully cooperate with this investigation,” Dentsu’s corporate communications office said.
FOOTBALL
Henry laments call
Hunter Henry on Thursday was ruled on the field to have secured a tough catch at the goal line for what would have been a third-quarter touchdown to give the New England Patriots the lead in the third quarter against the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL, but after a lengthy replay review, the call was overturned to an incomplete pass as the Patriots lost 33-26. “They called what they called,” Henry said. “I believe I caught it, but they made a call. Just got to live with it.” The officials conferred with the NFL during the review. The determination was that the ball touched the ground and Henry lost control. “As he’s going to the ground, he has to maintain control of the ball upon contacting the ground,” NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson told a pool reporter. “The term that’s commonly used is ‘surviving the ground’ — a lot of people refer to that. So, as he’s going to the ground, he has the elements of two feet and control, but because he’s going to the ground, he has to maintain control of the ball when he does go to the ground.” In other games on Thursday, the Cowboys beat the Giants 28-20 and the Bills downed the Lions 28-25.
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
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