■ ATHLETICS
Elanso wins Beirut marathon
Tamrat Elanso of Ethiopia won the Beirut International Marathon in Lebanon on Sunday, finishing the 42.2km race in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 46 seconds. Elanso, who earned US$3,000 for the win, was followed by David Kiplagat Kuino of Kenya in 2:21:51. Abraham Yilma Belete of Ethiopia was third in 2:21:54. About 20,000 runners took part in this year's race, which took a different route for the second consecutive year because of a year-long sit-in by the Hezbollah-led opposition in downtown Beirut.
■ Rodeo
Dead rider named champion
Australian rodeo rider Greg Meech was named all-round national champion on the same night he was trampled to death by a bull, news reports said yesterday. "On the completion of that bull ride we had the presentation night for the 2007 awards and Greg actually won the all-round champion in the cowboy title," National Rodeo Association spokesman Jason Hall told national broadcaster ABC. "He ... would have been crowned, or still is, the all-round champion for 2007." Meech, 33, died on Saturday in Ipswich Hospital from internal bleeding after he was thrown and trampled by a bull at a rodeo in Ipswich, near Brisbane.
■ Athletics
Psitet wins in Philadelphia
Kenya's Timothy Psitet won the Philadelphia Marathon in 2 hours, 25.01 minutes after dropping training partner and countryman Solomon Too at the 40km mark on Sunday. Too was second in 2:26.03. Kristin Price of the US won the women's title in 2:42.05. Psitet and Too broke together from the lead pack after 16km and tried to work together against the elements. At the 40th kilometer, Too began to weaken and gestured for Psitet to take over. "I told him to go ahead," Too said. "I started to have a headache and felt like I could fall down." Both winners said they were affected by the gusty winds and temperatures of around 5?C. "The winds were the worst part," Price said.
■ Motorsport
Johnson breaks record
Jimmie Johnson became the first driver to win consecutive NASCAR championships in nine years by wrapping up the title by finishing a trouble-free seventh in the season-ending Ford 400 in Florida on Sunday. He came into Homestead-Miami Speedway with a cushy 86-point lead over Jeff Gordon, his friend, mentor and teammate at Hendrick Motorsports. Although Johnson needed only to finish 18th or better, he refused to play it safe and crew chief Chad Knaus gave him a pole-winning car. Johnson led the first lap to earn a quick five-point bonus, then settled in for the 644km ride into the record books. At a time when no single team is supposed to dominate, the No. 48 crew did just that.
■ Golf
Tommy Armour takes title
Tommy Armour won the Callaway Pebble Beach Invitational, closing with a 2-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Ronnie Black and Rocco Mediate in California on Sunday. The 48-year-old Armour, a two-time winner on the US PGA Tour, had a 16-under 272 total in the event that features both male and female players.
Black shot a 68, and Mediate had a 67. ``I just played good all week and never had a three-putt,'' said Armour, whose last tournament win was the 2003 Texas Open. ``I told myself this morning that I had to shoot 70 to win. I shot 70.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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