■GOLF
Oda wins Casio Open
Japan’s Komei Oda shot a seven-under-par 65 to beat back overnight co-leaders Ryo Ishikawa and Shigeki Maruyama and retain the Casio Open men’s golf tournament in Kochi, Japan, yesterday. The 31-year-old Oda carded seven birdies and no bogeys for a four-round total of 21-under-par 267 to earn a three-stroke victory ahead of Ishikawa. Richer by ¥40 million (US$444,000) with his tournament win, Oda said it would be hard to secure a hat-trick at next year’s event. “But I’m going to aim for it. I’m lucky that I became the first golfer to defend this title. I’ll be in its history books,” he said.
■BASKETBALL
Barnes fined for ball toss
Orlando forward Matt Barnes said on Saturday he would appeal the US$20,000 fine levied by the NBA for throwing a basketball into the stands. “I think that’s a little much,” Barnes said before Orlando’s game against the Bucks on Saturday. “I completely understand the fine, but US$20,000 is ridiculous, so we’ll see.” Miami’s Michael Beasley bested Barnes to grab an offensive rebound and dunk the ball with 1.6 seconds left to deliver Miami’s 99-98 victory over Orlando on Wednesday. Orlando protested that goaltending should have been called, and a frustrated Barnes tossed the ball into the stands after the game ended. “I didn’t even know he did it,” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “I don’t think it was any complaint with officials, it’s simply just they have said, if the ball goes into the stands, you’re getting fined. I think that part of it is a good rule, whatever the number is, they decide.” Van Gundy joked that Barnes should just throw cash into the stands. “That’s basically what he did,” Van Gundy said. “At least if you did that, it’d be the same amount of money, and you’d be very popular.”
■SKI JUMPING
Romoren edges Bodmer
Bjorn Einar Romoren of Norway edged German teenager Pascal Bodmer at the Nordic Opening Saturday to start the ski jumping season. Romoren sailed to 139.5m and 139m with his jumps, amassing 299.8 points for a clear victory in Ruka. The 18-year-old Bodmer had the joint longest jump, 141m along with Andreas Kofler of Austria. Bodmer rose to second from eighth place after a first jump of 133m to earn 290.7 points for his first individual podium finish at a World Cup event. Austria’s Wolfgang Loitzl took third with jumps of 136.5 meters for 290.4 points. Jumpers from Norway, Germany and Japan mastered the conditions best, leaving traditionally strong countries like Austria and Finland behind. Simon Ammann, Switzerland’s best jumper for years, was 12th and current World Cup champion Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria was 19th. The event marked a comeback for Finland’s Janne Ahonen. He finished 34th.
■FIELD HOCKEY
Aussies crush Dutch 7-2
Defending champions Australia stormed to the top of the standings in the men’s field hockey Champions Trophy with a crushing 7-2 victory over title rivals Netherlands in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. The hosts stretched their unbeaten run over the Dutch to six Trophy encounters with a dominating display to back up their opening day 4-0 rout of South Korea. In the day’s other matches, South Korea came from a goal down early in the second half to beat Olympic champs Germany 5-3 and Spain equalized in the last three minutes to draw 3-3 with England. The Dutch have failed to win any of their last nine matches against Australia at the Champions Trophy, World Cup and Olympics.
■SOCCER
Bent’s mom ‘racially abused’
Sunderland stiker Darren Bent alleged that his mother was racially abused by a fan of his own club during their 1-0 Premier League defeat at Wigan Athletic on Saturday. “So we get beaten by Wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a Sunderland fan,” Bent wrote on the Twitter micro-blogging Web site after the match. “I won’t stand for that,” he added, calling the incident an “absolute disgrace.”
■RUGBY UNION
Namibia make finals
Namibia qualified for a fourth straight World Cup when they beat Tunisia 22-10 and swept their two-leg African playoffs on Saturday. Namibia won the first leg 18-13 two weeks ago, and the second was in doubt going into the second half with Tunisia leading 10-9 at Hage Geingob Stadium. But Tunisia penalized itself out of contention, and Namibia went ahead with Emile Wessels’ fourth penalty, then a converted try by No. 8 Tinus du Plessis.
■SOCCER
Van Persie needs surgery
Robin van Persie’s ankle injury is worse than first feared and he will be out of Arsenal’s team for at least four months. Van Persie was carried off on a stretcher in a friendly between Netherlands and Italy earlier this month. “In order to repair his [right] ankle Robin will undergo surgery next week in Amsterdam to reconstruct the ligaments,” Arsenal said in a statement on Saturday. “The club’s medical team anticipate a full recovery will take between four and five months.” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was critical of the Dutch Football Association over their initial treatment of van Persie’s injury. “We have just found out that it is much worse than what they told us,” he said. “If a player gets injured with his country he should be sent back to his club straight away to be checked out by their doctors, not by those of the national team.”
■SOCCER
Late strike earns Lens win
An injury-time goal by striker Eduardo earned Lens a 1-0 victory at home to Marseille on Saturday that prevented Didier Deschamps’ side from moving to within a point of the Ligue 1 top spot. Auxerre still head the table despite losing 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain, in a game over-shadowed by a serious leg injury sustained by PSG goalkeeper Gregory Coupet. Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda save of Yohan Demont’s 62nd-minute penalty appeared to have rescued a point for Marseille but in the second minute of injury time Eduardo converted a free-kick with a diving header. At the Parc des Princes, PSG were leading through Jeremy Clement’s fine second-half header when Coupet’s left leg buckled underneath him after he caught his studs in the turf. He was stretchered off the pitch and his coach Antoine Kombouare said he was unlikely to play again this season.
■SOCCER
Genoa earn bragging rights
Genoa beat city rivals Sampdoria 3-0 in a fast and furious Serie A derby on Saturday. Genoa’s Omar Milanetto converted a 10th minute penalty before teammate Giuseppe Biava handled the ball and was sent off having already been booked. Despite the dismissal, Genoa dominated and Marco Rossi netted early in the second period. Sampdoria namesake Marco Rossi was then sent off for a second yellow before Genoa’s Raffaele Palladino made it 3-0 from the spot. Samp lost Fabrizio Cacciatore to a straight red for a bad tackle late on. In the early match, Udinese beat Livorno 2-0 at home.
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
BRING THE NOISE: Brazil’s Fonseca attracted a boisterous crowd that brought such dominant soccer-style energy the referee switched to Portuguese to ask for quiet Australia’s Alex de Minaur on Monday put an end to Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca’s challenge at the Miami Open, outlasting the 18-year-old 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in an enthralling contest. Attendance on stadium court had been sparse throughout the day, but the Hard Rock Stadium turned into a mini-Maracana Stadium for Fonseca’s match, complete with Brazilian flags and soccer-style chanting. Fonseca brought his energetic brand of ultra-attacking tennis, but De Minaur was up to the challenge, coping with blistering forehands and a partisan crowd. Such was the dominance of Fonseca’s raucous support that the referee switched to Portuguese for his appeals for quiet. However, De
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