■PORTUGAL
Sporting win again
Helder Postiga and Leandro Romagnoli scored for Sporting Lisbon in their 2-0 defeat of Belenenses to continue their perfect start to the league on Saturday. Postiga set Sporting on their way to its third straight win with a shot in the 34th minute after Yannick Djalo had headed on Marat Izmailov’s cross. Sporting sealed their victory when Romagnoli sent Belenenses goalkeeper Julio Cesar the other way to convert a 51st-minute penalty. Sporting lead the league with nine points, three points ahead of Nacional, the other team in the league to have taken maximum points so far.
■FRANCE
Lyon remain undefeated
Ederson’s successful penalty helped Lyon beat lowly Le Havre 1-0 and maintain their unbeaten start to the French league on Saturday. The Brazilian midfielder converted from the spot in the 45th minute after defender Nicolas Gillet fouled striker Frederic Piquionne. Lyon’s fifth win of the season moved them onto 16 points after six rounds. Lyon finished the match with 10 men after winger Sidney Govou was sent off in the 66th for a second yellow card. In Saturday’s other matches, it was: Grenoble 0, Bordeaux 1; Lille 3, Auxerre 2; Lorient 1, Caen 1; Toulouse 2, Sochaux 1; Nantes 2, Valenciennes 0, and Nice 2, Le Mans 2.
■THE NETHERLANDS
PSV lose for first time
AZ Alkmaar handed champions PSV Eindhoven their first defeat of the Dutch league season on Saturday with a 1-0 home win. Alkmaar, without a point up until Saturday, dominated but had to wait until eight minutes from time when Mounir El Hamdaoui set up Maarten Martens to settle the match. Early leaders Groningen made a dreadful start at Heracles Almelo when Oluwafemi Ajilore was sent off in the second minute for a foul. Striker Bas Drost put Heracles ahead early in the second half but Petter Andersson equalized from close range to salvage a point five minutes before time. Groningen are top with seven points after three matches, one more then ADO Den Haag who traveled to Graafschap Doetinchem yesterday. PSV are third, also on six. Arch rivals Feyenoord and Ajax, respectively eighth and ninth with three points, were due to meet yesterday in Rotterdam. At the bottom Vitesse Arnhem and Sparta Rotterdam collected their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw. Ricky van Wolfswinkel opened the scoring for Vitesse in the 50th minute but Charles Dissels replied on 72.
■JAPAN
Antlers hand out life ban
Kashima Antlers have banned a supporter for life after he hit an opposition player with a flagpole, the club said yesterday. The unidentified man stretched the pole out of the stands and clubbed Alex, a Brazilian midfielder for Kashiwa Reysol, as he prepared for a corner kick on Saturday. Alex was not injured in the incident. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. “We informed the person about an indefinite ban from watching all of our matches in the stands,” the team said in a statement. Some 70 police later came out to break up a scuffle between rival fans. There were no arrests. “I want to offer a deep apology,” team president Kazumi Ohigashi said, admitting the incident hurt the league’s image. It was the latest crowd trouble to mar the 15-year-old J-League. In June, the league fined Asian champions Urawa Reds ¥20 million (US$186,250) for failing to prevent a brawl involving thousands of rival fans. Japan has no tradition of sports hooliganism.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
MILWAUKEE PREVAIL: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points as the Bucks withstood Nikola Jokic’s 27th triple-double of the season to beat the Nuggets Golden State star Stephen Curry on Thursday drilled 12 three-pointers in a scintillating 56-point display that carried the Warriors to a 121-115 victory over the Orlando Magic. Curry’s explosive performance helped the Warriors dig themselves out of a 17-point hole, with the point guard signaling the start of the fightback with a three-pointer from beyond the half-court line to end the first half that pulled the Warriors within 66-52 at the break. In the third quarter, he single-handedly outscored the Magic with 22 points to Orlando’s 21. The four-time NBA champion finished two three-pointers shy of former teammate Klay Thompson’s record for most
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