■ ATHLETICS
Bekele wins sixth title
Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele won the men's world cross country title in Edinburgh on Sunday for a record sixth time. Bekele finished the 12.1km course in 34min 38sec, 0.03sec ahead of Patrick Komon of Kenya, with defending champion Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea in third. Bekele suffered a nightmare start to the race when he was clipped from behind and had the heel of one of his running shoes ripped off on the second of the first two short laps. The Ethiopian, the world record holder at 5,000m and 10,000m, stopped to readjust his footing, gather himself mentally and quickly made up lost ground.
■ MOTORSPORT
FIA distances itself
The FIA wants to stay clear of the situation involving its president, Max Mosley, and a British tabloid that reported he engaged in sexual acts with five prostitutes in a scenario that involved Nazi role-playing. "This is a matter between Mr Mosley and the newspaper," the governing body of world auto racing said on Sunday. Mosley, the son of British Union of Fascists party founder Oswald Mosley, reportedly took part in the scene on Friday at a London apartment near his home, the News of the World said in a front-page story. A video on the paper's Web site shows a man identified as Mosley being greeted by a woman playing the role of a prison guard, checking his hair to see if he has been kept clean "at the other facility."
■ MOTORSPORT
Loeb wins in Argentina
Sebastien Loeb won another stage and easily claimed his fourth straight Rally Argentina title on Sunday. It was the Frenchman's third victory of the year and 39th of his career, mastering the rugged, muddy hills of Cordoba, Argentina, to finish in five hours, five minutes and 48.6 seconds and put him on and early track for a fifth world title. Chris Atkinson of Australia, driving a Subaru, finished second, 2 minutes, 33.2 seconds behind, and Loeb's Citroen teammate Daniel Sordo of Spain finished third, 4:04.7 behind. Loeb, who also won in Monte Carlo and Mexico this year, took the second of four stages on Sunday.
■ SOCCER
Malaysia mulls lifting ban
Malaysia yesterday hinted it may lift a travel ban on Israelis to allow Chelsea coach Avram Grant and midfielder Tal Ben Haim to come to the country on a mini-Asian tour by the English Premier League side. "I am not sure what the decision would be yet. But it would be a pity that politics should get in the way of sports," Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said. "There is a travel ban. I will have to study the situation first but I would like to see Chelsea although it is not my [favorite] team, I would like to see them playing here."
■ MOTORSPORT
Win gives Pedrosa lead
Spain's Dani Pedrosa grabbed the world championship lead with a dominant display in Sunday's Spanish MotoGP in Jerez, Spain. The Repsol Honda rider set a cracking pace after starting from second on the grid and set a new lap record on the second lap. He left his rivals in his wake, leading all the way to notch up his 28th career win and fifth in MotoGP. Italian Valentino Rossi finished second, 2.883 seconds behind, with Pedrosa's Spanish teammate Jorge Lorenzo third.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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