SOCCER
Bundesliga frustration
Bochum and Heidenheim are both staring relegation in the face after the struggling teams drew 0-0 in a tense Bundesliga encounter on Friday. A defeat would have condemned bottom club Bochum to the drop, but a point means it survives at least one more week. The Ruhr side remained last in the Bundesliga, equal on points with Kiel. The result was equally frustrating for Heidenheim, which remained third from bottom, four points above Bochum and Kiel, but four behind Hoffenheim, which has a game in hand.
SOCCER
Jesus leaves Al-Hilal
Jorge Jesus has left his position as Al-Hilal head coach by mutual consent, the Saudi Arabian soccer team announced yesterday. The departure of the 70-year-old veteran coach comes just four days after Al-Hilal lost the semi-final of the AFC Champions League Elite to Saudi Arabian rival Al-Ahli. Last season, Jesus, who was appointed in July 2023, led Al-Hilal on a world-record winning streak of 34 games as the Riyadh club won a record 19th Saudi Pro League title. This season, the club is six points behind leader Al-Ittihad with just five games remaining. Mohammed Al-Shalhoub is to take temporary control of the team, but it has been reported that a foreign coach would be appointed before the four-time Asian champions take on Real Madrid in its opening game of the FIFA Club World Cup on June 18.
HURDLING
Almost world records
Olympic champion Masai Russell scorched to victory with the second-fastest 100m hurdles time in history at the Grand Slam Track meeting in Miami yesterday, clocking a world leading 12.17s. The 24-year-old American star finished just ahead of compatriot Tia Jones, who was second at 12.19s — the third-fastest time in history. Russell and Jones, who benefited from a strong following wind which was just on the legal threshold of +2.0 m/s, only narrowly missed out on Tobi Amusan’s world record of 12.12s set at the World Championships in Eugene in 2022. Russell’s time was also a new US record, and also a significant improvement on her previous season best of 12.62s set in Gainesville, Florida, last month.
SOCCER
De Bruyne’s farewell goal
Kevin De Bruyne scored in his penultimate game at Etihad Stadium as Manchester City beat Wolverhampton 1-0 on Friday to climb to third in the Premier League and boost their chances of Champions League qualification. Pep Guardiola’s men, who are unbeaten in seven successive league games, provisionally climbed one spot with 64 points after 35 games. Wolves, who saw their remarkable run of six successive victories end, are 13th. Wolves had the better chances in a nervy first half before City broke the deadlock in the 35th minute when Jeremy Doku worked the ball down the left before cutting it back sharply from the left-hand side to De Bruyne who side-footed it home. The 33-year-old announced last month that he would leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season, making Friday his second-last game. De Bruyne, who has battled injuries the past two seasons, had expressed surprise that he had not been offered a contract extension by City, saying he still had plenty to give.
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
RSS