RUGBY UNION
Stormers remain unbeaten
The South Africa-based Stormers maintained their unbeaten record in Super Rugby this year, beating the Lions 33-30 in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Stormers were trailing 30-26 nearly two minutes after the final hooter, but kept the ball alive and worked an opportunity for center Ruhan Nel to score a dramatic match-winning try in the last play of the game. In Buenos Aires, hooker Julian Montoya scored three tries as the Jaguares rallied from 24-12 down at halftime to beat the Queensland Reds 43-27.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Folau has winning debut
Former Wallaby Israel Folau scored two tries on his debut for the Catalans Dragons in Saturday’s 36-18 Super League win over the Castleford Tigers. Folau, 30, who joined the French side on Jan. 28, crossed after just six minutes having caught a high kick. Dragons coach Steve McNamara said that the team were not letting controversy over Folau distract them. “The plan all along was to get Israel on the field and give him time. I understand the headlines, but let him play, let him get on the field and we’ll understand the person a little more after that,” McNamara told a post-match news conference. Folau was sacked last year by Rugby Australia after a social media post that said “hell awaits” homosexuals and other groups. Some people inside the ground waved rainbow flags to protest Folau. “People are judging him on a headline,” McNamara said. “When I sign a player I look at him from a football perspective, then I work out what type of person he is. Is he a good person? Is he a good player? Will he add value to the team on and off the field?” Folau’s name was cheered when it was read out on the sound system before the game at the Stade Gilbert Brutus. The Dragons were investigating claims that stadium security asked them to not fly the flags. The Dragons said it was not their policy to ban rainbow flags.
OLYMPICS
Twitter accounts hacked
Twitter on Saturday said that an official Twitter account of the Olympics and the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) media account had been hacked and temporarily locked. The accounts were hacked through a third-party platform, a Twitter spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement, without giving further details. “As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we locked the compromised accounts and are working closely with our partners to restore them,” the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the IOC separately said that it was investigating the potential breach. La Liga soccer club Barcelona’s account faced a similar incident, Twitter said later. “FC Barcelona will conduct a cybersecurity audit and will review all protocols and links with third-party tools in order to avoid such incidents,” the club said in a tweet after the hack.
ATHLETICS
Pole vault record set
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis on Saturday set a world pole vault record of 6.18m at an indoor meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, adding 1cm to the record he set in Poland this month. Duplantis cleared the bar with something to spare and won a world-record bonus check of US$30,000. The record of 6.16m set by French vaulter Renaud Lavillenie had stood since 2014 until Duplantis broke it in Torun on Feb. 8.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Teenage gymnast Shoko Miyata has been pulled from Japan’s team for the Paris Olympics after being caught smoking and drinking, officials said yesterday. The 19-year-old, a world bronze medalist and captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team for the Games, was sent home from their training camp in Monaco and admitted she had violated the squad’s code of conduct. “With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) secretary-general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura said the association had been told that Miyata was seen smoking in a
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super