MARATHONS
Tola breaks NY record
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola on Sunday produced a devastating performance to win the New York Marathon in a new course record, while Kenya’s Hellen Obiri pipped Letsenbet Gidey to claim the women’s race. Tola, last year’s World Athletics Championships marathon gold medalist, powered home to take the tape in a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, 58 seconds, shattering the old course record of 2:05:06 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011. Kenya’s Albert Korir was second in 2:06:57, while Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata was third in 2:07:11. The win marked a stunning return to form for Tola, who lost his World Championship marathon crown in Budapest in August after failing to finish the course. “I’m very happy — this is the first time I’ve won a major marathon which is very important to me,” Tola told ESPN after the race. A stacked women’s field, which included Boston Marathon champion Obiri, Gidey and Brigid Kosgei, the third fastest woman in history, was widely expected to set a potentially record-breaking pace. However the race became a slow tactical battle, with Obiri holding off 10,000m world record holder Gidey to take the line in 2:27:23. Gidey finished just behind in 2:27:29, with Kenya’s Lokedi third in 2:27:33.
TENNIS
Swiatek ousts Sabalenka
Poland’s Iga Swiatek on Sunday knocked out rival Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-final of the season-ending WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, putting the world No. 1 ranking within her reach ahead of the title match. The win by the cool and collected Swiatek set up a final showdown with the US’ Jessica Pegula, and she can end the year on top if she is able to hoist the trophy. World No. 1 Sabalenka ended Swiatek’s WTA Finals campaign in the penultimate stage a year ago, but lacked her usual lethal power in Cancun, as a flurry of forehand errors undermined her best efforts. The match began on Saturday, but officials were forced to suspend the affair with the Pole up 2-1 in the first set due to inclement weather. Four-time major winner Swiatek wrested the momentum immediately when play resumed on Sunday, and kept her composure throughout. “Jessie [Pegula] is a great player... I know it’s not going to be easy,” Swiatek said.
DRAGON BOATING
Prince William wins race
Britain’s Prince William yesterday took to the waters in Singapore for a morning of dragon boating, ahead of activities for the annual Earthshot Prize awards aimed at promoting solutions for the planet’s environmental threats. Donning a life vest and a black cap, the Prince of Wales sat in a long narrow boat as he paddled with athletes from the British Dragons club on the Kallang River. William and the other 19 paddlers rowed vigorously to the steady beat of a drummer standing in the bow. His boat triumphed in a brief race with another boat captained by British High Commissioner to Singapore Kara Owen. It was not the first time for William, an avid sportsman who tried his hand at dragon boating with his wife, Kate, during a tour of Canada in 2011. “I was lucky enough to be sitting next to him, and he is just a really nice guy,” said Laura Greenwood, a British expat who is a member of the British Dragons. “He has dragon boated before, so he felt kind of confident in what he was doing... It was quite fast pace, so he kept up really well.”
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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