■RUGBY UNION
S Korea win Asian sevens
South Korea beat top seeds Japan 42-19 in the final to claim the first Asian Series sevens event in Shanghai at the weekend. A second victory in two days against their traditional rivals at the Shanghai Rugby Club saw the South Koreans win a fiercely competitive tournament, while Hong Kong beat Taiwan 31-10 to claim third place. China were eliminated from the cup competition by Japan but rallied to claim the plate with a 59-5 victory over Thailand. The series will run until the end of November with further rounds in the Philippines, Brunei, Borneo, Iran and Sri Lanka.
■ATHLETICS
S Africa official back in post
South Africa’s top track official is returning to the international athletics body’s board, saying he was needed to fight from the inside for a world champion runner whose sex has been questioned. Athletics South Africa announced on Sunday that its president, Leonard Chuene, was rejoining the board of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which Chuene has accused of humiliating runner Caster Semenya and violating its own privacy rules in its handling of her case. Semenya won the 800m at the world championships in Berlin on Aug. 19. Chuene left the IAAF board shortly after it announced last month it had ordered sex tests on Semenya. On Sunday, Chuene said: “I took the [initial] decision as an individual, emotionally.” He said that during a special Athletics South Africa meeting on Saturday in Pretoria, other officials said he had a duty to represent both South Africa and Africa on the IAAF board. “They still want to see me contributing,” he said. “I can make a contribution inside” on Semenya’s case.
■RUGBY UNION
Pumas receive invitation
Southern hemisphere rugby chiefs on yesterday moved to revitalize the Tri-Nations series by handing Argentina a long-awaited invitation to form a “Four Nations” championship from 2012. The move, just days after South Africa wrapped up the 14th Tri-Nations title, is conditional on Argentina sending their best players and confirming financial arrangements with SANZAR, the tournament’s organizers. “To have the Pumas ... join with the three top-ranked international teams in world rugby will be exciting for fans, players, sponsors and broadcasters across our four countries and beyond,” SANZAR chief Andy Marinos said. “They play a different style to the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies and their inclusion will see the Tri-Nations evolve to be a truly southern hemisphere championship.” In the new format, each team would play the others home and away — a total of six matches and 12 for the tournament overall. Currently, the Tri-Nations teams play the others three times each.
■CYCLING
Sutton happy with progress
Australia’s Chris Sutton surrendered the yellow jersey at the end of the second stage of the Tour of Britain on Sunday but still insisted his weekend could not have gone any better. Sutton followed-up his first stage win with ninth place on day two from Darlington to Gateshead as Dutchman Kai Reus won his first stage since a 2007 crash that left him in a coma. Reus’ comfortable nine second margin of victory was enough to earn him yellow and Sutton admitted his opening exploits in York had taken their toll. “The day went pretty well for me considering how much effort I put into the first day,” he said. “I was never going to go out there and race from the front if I could help it but the lads in the team all worked hard for me and things are looking good.
■CYCLING
Zabriskie wins in Missouri
American David Zabriskie won the first professional stage race of his career on Sunday, holding on to his 30-second lead during a 115km ride through the streets of downtown Kansas City in what could be the final stage of the Tour of Missouri. “It’d be very disappointing if it didn’t continue,” Zabriskie said. “It’s important to have races like this in America, it’s continued to grow. The fans, as you can tell, love it, the riders definitely like it — everyone really enjoys racing here.” With its three-year sponsorship deal with the state complete, the Tour of Missouri will have to convince state legislators to continue funding a cycling race at a time when they’re trying trim expenditures. Shielded by his Garmin-Slipstream teammates, Zabriskie hovered in the main pack, keeping an eye on Sweden’s Gustav Larsson, who was second overall entering the final stage. Zabriskie finished 3 seconds behind stage winner Martin Gilbert of Canada, who completed seven laps of a 16.4km circuit in 2 hours, 33 minutes, 11 seconds. Larsson remained in second overall and Marco Pinotti was third in the 985km race that started on Monday in St Louis.
■BASKETBALL
Russia slip past Greece
Defending champion Russia slipped past Greece 68-65 on Sunday and France beat Croatia 87-79 to stay unbeaten at the European basketball championship in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Russia, which has only three players from the team that upset Spain in the 2007 final, struggled in the first round of this year’s tournament, and has clearly missed its two top players from the 2007 squad — Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko and J.R. Holden. France remained perfect at the tournament behind a strong performance from its NBA trio of Tony Parker, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw. Earlier on Sunday in Group E, point guard Vrbica Stefanov scored 25 points to lead Macedonia past Germany 86-75. Macedonia plays Russia in its final second-round group game today, Germany takes on Croatia and group-leader France faces Greece.
■GOLF
US amateurs win Walker Cup
The US amateurs won the Walker Cup for a third consecutive time on Sunday, crushing Britain and Ireland by 16.5 points to 9.5 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Leading 8-4 going into the final day of the biennial competition and needing just five more points to retain the trophy, the home team tightened their grip by clinching the morning foursomes 3-1. Ricky Fowler and Peter Uihlein each won their afternoon singles matches to end the weekend with perfect 4-0 records, Uihlein’s 3&1 triumph over Stiggy Hodgson sealing outright victory for the rampant Americans. The US, who edged Britain and Ireland by a point at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland two years ago, lead the series 34-7-1.
■CYCLING
Valverde retains Vuelta lead
Italian rider Damiano Cunego won the 14th stage of the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday, and Alejandro Valverde maintained his overall lead after finishing fifth. Cunego took the third consecutive mountain stage of the Spanish classic in a time of 4 hours, 4 minutes, 23 seconds on Sunday — 2:23 faster than Denmark’s Jacob Fuglsang. It was the Lampre-NGC rider’s second stage win. Samuel Sanchez was third ahead of fellow Spanish rider Ezequiel Mosquera, while Valverde was 3:22 back. Closest overall rival Robert Gesink of Rabobank was sixth, four seconds behind Valverde who increased his lead over the Dutch cyclist to 31 seconds with six stages to race.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
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