DARTS
Teen makes world semis
Sixteen-year-old Luke Littler on Monday became the youngest player to ever reach the semi-finals of the PDC World Darts Championship with a 5-1 win over Brendan Dolan at Alexandra Palace. Littler had a nervous start, losing the first two legs of the opening set, but the teenager soon found his stride to win that first set, and had little trouble in seeing off 50-year-old Dolan from Northern Ireland. “Wow. I’m in the semi-final on my debut,” Littler told Sky Sports. “If I keep it up, I’ve got a good chance. Now I am dreaming. I’m two games away. I’m definitely thinking about lifting the title.” The English teenager is to face 2018 winner Rob Cross, who made a remarkable comeback from 4-0 down to beat Chris Dobey 5-4 in their quarter-final.
CRICKET
Warner pleads for cap
Australian opener David Warner has made an impassioned appeal for the return of a rucksack containing his baggy green cap that went missing on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney for his final Test match this week. The 37-year-old is to bring down the curtain on his 12-year career in the longest format of the game in the third Test against Pakistan at his home Sydney Cricket Ground starting today. “This is my last resort, but my backpack, which contained my Baggy Green, has been taken from my luggage, which was transported to Melbourne airport and flown ... to Sydney a few days ago,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s sentimental to me, it’s something that I would love to have back, in my hands, walking out there come this week... You won’t get into trouble, just get in touch with Cricket Australia or me.” Australian internationals receive the baggy green cap, usually from a former player, on the morning of their test debut and wear it with pride even as it deteriorates over the length of their career.
BASKETBALL
Clarkson posts triple-double
Jordan Clarkson on Monday came off the bench to post the first regular-season triple-double by a Utah Jazz player since 2008, leading his team to a 127-90 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Clarkson had 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds — the first triple-double of his career — and the first for the Jazz in a regular-season game since Carlos Boozer had one on Feb. 13, 2008, a stretch of 1,256 games. Also, Clarkson’s triple-double was the first in more than 40 years for a Jazz player coming off the bench, dating to Feb. 5, 1983, when Mark Eaton had 12 points, 14 rebounds and 12 blocked shots. “It was a very cool little milestone to put on my list,” Clarkson said. Hehad several near-misses in the fourth quarter before grabbing his 10th, and final, rebound with 2 minutes, 28 seconds left. He wrapped up the ball, called timeout and then his teammates and Jazz fans erupted with cheers.
ATHLETICS
Arrests in Kiplagat murder
Two men were arrested in connection with the killing of Ugandan Olympic runner Benjamin Kiplagat, who was found with his throat cut in his brother’s car in Kenya on New Year’s Eve, police said on Monday. A knife suspected of being used in the killing of the 34-year-old Kiplagat was found on one of the suspects, Moiben sub county police commander Stephen Okal said. The motive for the killing appears to have been robbery, he said, because money and a cellphone had been taken from Kiplagat.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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