CYCLING
Aussie Porte wins stage
Richie Porte of Australia won the fifth and penultimate stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Friday, moving into second place behind Sky teammate Sergio Henao. Porte finished the 166km mountain leg featuring 10 summits between Eibar and Beasain in 4 hours, 40 minutes, 43 seconds. Last year’s winner, Samuel Sanchez, came in second at the head of a group, four seconds off the pace. Porte and Nairo Quintana are both six seconds behind Henao in the overall standings, with Alberto Contador another four seconds behind the Colombian leader.
CRICKET
Sehwag gets the chop
India’s selectors yesterday left out dashing batsman Virender Sehwag from a 30-man preliminary squad for the Champions Trophy in England in June. Seasoned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and veteran seamer Zaheer Khan were also missing from the list, which has to be shortened to 15 players a month before the one-day tournament opens on June 5. Sehwag’s 219 against the West Indies in 2011 is the highest individual score in one-day internationals. However, he was dropped due to recent poor form. Off-spinner Parvez Rasool was included in the squad, making him the first cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir to join the senior ranks.
SOCCER
Kewell joins Qatari club
Former Leeds and Liverpool winger Harry Kewell has signed a short-term deal with Qatar’s Al-Gharafa, ending a year-long spell without a club. Kewell left Melbourne Victory at the end of last year’s A-League season for family reasons. Al-Gharafa, which announced the deal on its Web site, said Kewell had been recruited only until the end of the current Qatar Stars League season which ends next month. Kewell had hoped to find a club in England over the past year to stay close to his family home in Cheshire.
RUGBY UNION
Biarritz squad quarantined
Biarritz have put their entire first team squad in quarantine after an outbreak of the mumps, the French Rugby League (LNR) said on Friday. Flyhalf Julien Peyrelongue has caught the mumps while backrow Benoit Guyot is suspected of also being infected. The squad has been placed in quarantine until Thursday while their Top 14 clash with Perpignan has been pushed back from April 13 to April 14. “Following Biarritz’s statement that they have two cases of the mumps, the league’s medical commission has, as a precautionary measure, banned the club’s players and coaches from meeting up from April 5 to April 11, inclusive,” the LNR said in a statement. Mumps, a common viral disease in childhood, causes swelling of the glands and can be rather more serious when contracted in adulthood, with occasional complications.
SOCCER
Hoffenheim beat Fortuna
With a new coach in charge, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim seized a lifeline in their fight for Bundesliga survival with a 3-0 win over fellow-relegation candidates Fortuna Duesseldorf on Friday. The home side got off to a great start in Markus Gisdol’s first game when Roberto Firmino crashed his shot in off the underside of the crossbar in the 11th minute. The visitors were dealt a blow when Duesseldorf’s Andreas Lambertz headed Sejad Salihovic’s corner into his own net with 15 minutes remaining. Kevin Volland rounded off the scoring on a counterattack in injury time.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
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