FOOTBALL
Jets’ betting odds plunge
The New York Jets’ odds to win the Super Bowl plummeted after quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in their 22-16 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills on Monday night. New York’s odds to win it all went from 16-1 to 50-1 at Caesars Sportsbook and 18-1 to 66-1 at BetMGM. “Since the Rodgers injury, bettors are not interested in backing Zach Wilson,” BetMGM trading team lead Seamus Magee said. The Jets drove much of the pre-season NFL betting thanks to their trade for Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers. More money was bet on New York than any other American Football Conference team at BetMGM, and the Jets were Caesars’ biggest financial liability.
CYCLING
Jonas stuns on stage 16
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday re-established the pecking order in the Jumbo-Visma team with a stunning victory on stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana to move closer to the overall lead. The Dane, who retained his Tour de France title this year, went off like a rocket on the steep finish to the 120km run through the Cantabrian valleys to outclass the peloton. Teammate Sepp Kuss struggled in the finale and lost more than a minute to Vingegaard, but hangs on to the red jersey with a reduced buffer of 29 seconds. Three-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic completed a Jumbo-Visma top three in the GC standings and was 1 minute, 33 seconds behind Kuss. The Jumbo-Visma team were reeling earlier on Tuesday after the news that their rider Nathan van Hooydonck was in hospital after falling ill at the wheel at home in Belgium. Initial reports said he was in a life-threatening situation, but later Jumbo-Visma said his condition was “not critical.” Vingegaard, who counted on teammate Van Hooydonck’s steadfast support during his ride to the Tour victory this year, looked emotional after crossing the finish line. “I’m just happy to win today, because we had some terrible news this morning and I wanted to win for my best friend today,” Vingegaard told Eurosport after his second stage win at this year’s Vuelta. Jumbo-Visma are poised to become the first team to win all three Grand Tours in a single season after Roglic won this year’s Giro d’Italia.
CRICKET
Proteas end Aussie streak
South Africa’s spin bowlers backed up a century by Aiden Markram as the hosts ended Australia’s winning streak with a 111-run victory in the third one-day international at the J.B. Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Tuesday. Markram hit 102 not out in a South African total of 338-6. South Africa survived a furious assault by David Warner and Travis Head before bowling out Australia for 227. Left-arm spinners Tabraiz Shamsi (2-29) and Keshav Maharaj (2-37) changed the course of the match on a spin-friendly pitch before fast bowler Gerald Coetzee (4-50) finished off the Australian innings. Maharaj also made a key intervention in the field with a direct-hit run out of Warner, who made 78 off 56 balls before slipping and losing his shoe as he set off for a single. “We needed a positive one,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said. “The batters knuckled down and we were banking on the wicket assisting the spin bowlers and it’s exactly what it did.” Australia won the first two games in the five-match series after sweeping a Twenty20 series 3-0.
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
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
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
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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