■ SOCCER
Bordeaux send warning
Yoann Gourcuff led Bordeaux to a 4-0 thrashing of Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night to open this year’s league program on a high and give a warning to French league leaders Lyon. Bordeaux now lie just a point behind the seven-time reigning champions after controlling a match that was peppered with classy goals to inflict PSG’s first defeat since losing to Rennes at the end of November. Souleymane Diawara opened the scoring when he got on the end of a Gourcuff free-kick after 10 minutes to glance home a header leaving PSG keeper Mickael Landreau no chance. Fernando Cavenaghi beat defender Zoumana Camara to a Mathieu Chalme long ball to fire home left-footed inside Landreau’s right hand post in the 35th minute. From then on, it was all Bordeaux who rounded off the scoring in the 70th and 87th minutes through Gourcuff and Fernando, though PSG’s Stephane Sessegnon had hit the post midway through the second half.
■RUGBY UNION
Tongan dies of heart attack
A Tongan rugby player, recently married and the father of two young children, died from a heart attack during a French third division match on Sunday. The 28-year-old Perigueux flanker Feao Latu collapsed just 15 minutes into the top-of-the-table match at Cahors and was pronounced dead at hospital, emergency services said. “It’s dreadful. We are completely shocked. All the players and all of the rugby family here have lived through a drama today. It’s hard to accept,” Perigueux club president Michel Macary said. Latu complained of feeling unwell in the 17th minute when Cahors had scored a try. While the players waited for the conversion, Latu fell to his knees and signaled to the bench and the club doctor for attention. Around a thousand spectators witnessed the drama at the Lucien Desprats Stadium in Cahors, with the match eventually called off.
■SOCCER
Players won’t be celebrating
Japan coach Takeshi Okada issued a bizarre ban on three of his players from attending their “coming-of-age” ceremony yesterday. Okada refused to release the trio from training for the traditional ceremony for those who have reached 20 — the mark of adulthood in Japan and a day observed with a national holiday. “There’s no need for them to go to a coming of age ceremony,” Okada said. “I’m not going either.” Cerezo Osaka midfielder Takashi Inui, his club teammate Shinji Kagawa and Oita Trinita midfielder Mu Kanazaki have all been told they cannot leave Japan’s training camp in Kyushu. Twenty is also the legal age for drinking in Japan, a fact that will not be lost on Okada after several embarrassing drink-related incidents involving Japanese players in recent years. “Football is more important,” said Inui after hearing he would not get the chance to dress up. “I want to get as much as I can out of this camp.”
■GOLF
Hansen edges out McLardy
Anders Hansen birdied the final hole on Sunday to finish at 15-under 269 and beat Andrew McLardy by one stroke at the Johannesburg Open. The Dane shot a five-under 66 at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club East Course to hold off McLardy, who finished second for the second time in three years after a 68. Hansen had six birdies, including four straight from the sixth hole. Two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen (74), who started the final round just one shot behind, had nine bogeys — six on the back nine. But he entertained the crowd with a 240-yard albatross on the 18th.
■BASEBALL
Braves to sign Kawakami
The Atlanta Braves have reached an agreement to sign Japanese pitcher Kenshin Kawakami subject to a medical, Major League Baseball said on its Web site (www.mlb.com) on Sunday. The 33-year-old right-hander spent the past 11 seasons as one of the top pitchers in Japan’s Central League, the Web site said, adding that the physical examination was scheduled to take place on Monday. Kawakami had a 9-5 record with a 2.30 earned run average with the Chunichi Dragons this past season, although he missed almost three weeks in September with a back strain.
■SKIING
Herbst wins in Adelboden
Austria’s Reinfried Herbst won the men’s World Cup slalom race in Adelboden, Switzerland, on Sunday, seeing off compatriot Manfred Pranger and Germany’s Felix Neureuther. France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange, who finished ninth, retains the lead in the discipline, while Austrian Benjamin Raich, 11th on the day, remains atop the overall World Cup standings. Herbst, 30, won in 1 minute 42.95 seconds to edge Pranger by 0.18 seconds and Neureuther by 0.32 seconds. Raich had seemed poised for glory after he stood second following the opening run, but fell away on the second race, while Grange was unable to find the form that brought earlier successes at Levi in Finland and Zagreb.
■BOBSLED
Angerer leads team to win
Karl Angerer of Germany led his four-man bobsled team to its second World Cup victory of the season on Sunday. Angerer and his squad of Andreas Udvari, Alex Mann and Gregor Bermbach had the fastest second run to win the Koenigssee race with a combined time of 1 minute, 37.84 seconds. Edwin van Calker of the Netherlands was second, 0.09 seconds behind, while Germany’s Andre Lange and Latvia’s Janis Minins tied for third, another 0.01 seconds back. Alexsandr Zubkov of Russia finished sixth to maintain his lead in the overall standings with 821 points. Lange is second on 803, with Minins third on 760.
■ATHLETICS
Runner dies aged 26
Police say they are investigating the death of German 800m runner Rene Herms, who was found dead in his apartment at age 26. Police confirmed a Bild newspaper report on Sunday that Herms was found dead on Saturday morning in his apartment in the eastern town of Lohmen. Police say the cause of death was unclear, but spokesman Bernd Kopke was quoted by Der Spiegel magazine as saying there were no indications of a suicide or a crime. Herms was a five-time German champion and reached the 800m semi-finals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
■SUMO
Asashoryu triumphs again
Grand champion Asashoryu won his match and the admiration of the cheering crowd yesterday after defeating Kotoshogiku at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, temporarily silencing calls for an early retirement. Asashoryu, despite a failure to take control of Kotoshogiku’s belt, gripped his opponent tightly from both sides and twisted him down to the dirt surface, wrapping up with a slap on the back. Under-fire Asashoryu added a much needed second win at Ryogoku Kokugikan for a 2-0 record. The top maegashira is winless. Asashoryu sat out part or all of the last three tournaments because of injuries to his elbow and knee. The 28-year-old has won 22 Emperor’s Cup’s but is nowhere close to being as dominant as he was a few years ago.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
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