The stadium announcer at the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo on Monday wished a warm and welcome return to tennis lovers as the WTA tournament in Italy started five months after the past one, with bottles of hand sanitizer attached to the nets. The event comes just weeks before the US Open and Roland Garros double-header, but lost original top seed Simona Halep to lingering health concerns, while an unnamed player withdrew from qualifying after testing positive for COVID-19. There were about 350 fans allowed into a venue built for 1,500. Sofia Kenin and Elina Svitolina captured titles on March 8, the last day of competitive matches before the circuit was put on hold as the tennis calendar was shaken upside down. The prestigious Indian Wells event in the California desert became the first competition to be axed due to the pandemic. The French Open was then moved to late September, with Wimbledon canceled for the first time since World War II. When Croatia’s Donna Vekic and the Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus took to the clay court late on Monday, about 150 days after the sport’s hiatus started, they were not wearing face masks. After Vekic won, she told reporters via videoconferencing that she was happy to have remembered how to play tennis. “It’s weird, sometimes funny with all the protocols — masks on your face, visors and screens in the transport,” she said. “Of course it’s necessary, but so different from before — it seems unreal.” The line judges and umpire were masked, and the players had to stand behind a social distancing line to approach them. The stands are cleared and disinfected after each match. Players in the second meeting were told to wear their masks during the rest periods and to sanitize their hands from the dispensing bottles attached to the net poles. There were hand gel bottles placed in the
The Braves were dealt a double blow as the Mets’ Jacob deGrom struck out 10 in six innings to help New York snap a five-game skid with a 7-2 victory on Monday, and as Atlanta top pitcher Mike Soroka went down with a torn Achilles tendon in the third inning. “There’s no sugarcoating this night,” Atlanta slugger Freddie Freeman said. “It stinks. It really does.” Soroka crumpled to the ground on a seemingly routine play, breaking toward first to cover the bag on a grounder to Freeman’s right. “When you lose, in my mind, one of the top pitching arms in this entire game for the whole season, it’s pretty tough,” Freeman added. It was also a tough night physically for the Mets. Robinson Cano had three RBIs before leaving the game himself — one of three New York infielders who went down with injuries. None of them were nearly as serious as Soroka’s. Mets manager Luis Rojas said that the balmy weather might have contributed to the injuries to Cano, Amed Rosario and Jeff McNeil. All are day to day. Wilson Ramos added a two-run homer for the Mets, who avoided a four-game sweep and put an end to Atlanta’s five-game winning streak. DeGrom (1-0) turned in another sterling effort. The two-time National League (NL) Cy Young Award winner has allowed just four earned runs in 17 innings over his first three starts of the shortened season. He threw 104 pitches, with his only real problems coming in the fifth inning after being staked to a 7-0 lead. Former teammate Travis d’Arnaud homered off DeGrom. “I wasn’t able to throw my off-speed for strikes or where I wanted,” DeGrom said. “I left a couple of balls over the middle — and that’s how they scored a couple of times. I was just frustrated and was having a hard time gripping the
Andrei Svechnikov on Monday scored the first hat-trick of his NHL career as the Carolina Hurricanes moved to within one win of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-1 rout of the New York Rangers. The 20-year-old winger’s superb display of finishing sent the Rangers spinning to defeat in game 2 of the qualifying competition at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Sebastian Aho set up all three of Svechnikov’s goals, while Jordan Martinook was the other Hurricanes scorer. The Hurricanes lead the series 2-0. Svechnikov said afterward that his hat-trick meant more coming against Rangers goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist, a veteran Swedish international. “I’m excited to score my first hat-trick, especially on a superstar goalie,” Svechnikov said. “I mean, I wouldn’t do that without my partner,” he said of Aho’s contribution. “Thanks for that and I think we played a really good game.” Rangers coach David Quinn credited Carolina’s performance, but lamented his team’s self-inflicted problems. “They’re playing smart hockey, they’re playing experienced playoff hockey,” Quinn said of the Hurricanes, who his team was to face in game 3 yesterday. “Between now and tomorrow night, we have to learn we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot,” Quinn added. “Our lack of patience is killing us right now... We need everybody in that room to just be a little bit smarter, a little bit more patient, work a little bit harder, win more wall battles — all these things add up.” In other games on Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights scored four goals in the third period after overturning a 1-3 deficit to defeat the Dallas Stars 5-3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Chandler Stephenson had fired the Golden Knights into the lead in the opening period before goals from Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry left Dallas in control at 3-1 in the second quarter. Mark Stone pulled a goal
Defending Tour de France champion Egan Bernal on Monday marked out his territory by climbing to a summit finish victory on stage 3 of the Route d’Occitanie. Bernal’s Ineos teammate Pavel Sivakov was second at 10 seconds with Team Astana’s Aleksandr Vlasov, while Chris Froome trailed home five minutes adrift less than a month ahead of the rescheduled Tour. The Colombian punched the air joyously as he soloed over the finish line to rapturous applause from the fans, who had defied a traffic ban by walking or cycling to the mountain summit finale. Bernal also clinched the overall lead of the four-day race, on a stage typical of those found on the Tour with about 40km of difficult climbs. “The team did a really good lead out and I attacked in the last part of the climb,” said Bernal, who then tipped one of his teammates to ride his debut Tour. “It was practically just two Team Ineos riders at the end.” “Pavel was impressive,” Bernal added. “He has improved his level a lot since last season and he will be a key rider in the Tour de France.” A household name in his homeland since winning last year’s Tour, Bernal warmed up for that by taking the overall victory in the Paris-Nice and Tour de Suisse, and seems to be the favorite to win this season’s race. “This is a test day for all the favorites of the Tour,” France’s Thibaut Pinot said ahead of the stage in which he finished fourth, 31 seconds behind the 23-year-old winner. “I’m more than happy with my climb,” said Pinot, who was welcomed at the summit by a huge cheer from the fans. French climber Romain Bardet, who fell heavily on Sunday, was 1 minute, 18 seconds off the winner. After negotiating the narrow lanes in the Pyrenean foothills, the race went
It has been five months since the last games, but European continental club soccer is back as the UEFA Europa League restarts today with the round of 16. Manchester United and Bayer 04 Leverkusen are among the sides playing the second legs of matchups suspended in time by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those second legs are to be played at clubs’ home stadiums before the winners head to Germany for a new knockout tournament format. All games are to be played without spectators. Getafe and Inter are to be the first teams to play at the UEFA tournament venues when they meet today in Gelsenkirchen. They are playing their last-16 fixture over a single leg because they did not complete a first leg in March before play was suspended. Sevilla and AS Roma play tomorrow in Duisburg. While domestic leagues across Europe could restart amid the pandemic — although France, the Netherlands and Scotland abandoned their seasons — the international travel needed for the Europa League and Champions League was a problem. Teams are used to being tested for COVID-19, but at least one player is to miss Europa League games because of a positive test. The four stadiums in western Germany are an introduction to once-proud clubs going through tough times. Sevilla and Roma meet at Duisburg, who have a 31,500-seat stadium, but are only a third-tier club team with chronic financial problems. Money worries are also a problem for Schalke 04, who play at the stadium in Gelsenkirchen. They had to slash their budget after incomes shrunk when they regularly missed out on the UEFA Champions League. The stadium in Dusseldorf is home to a club just relegated to the second tier. The final is being played on Aug. 21 in Cologne, whose fans were happy to stay in the Bundesliga last season after a mixed record.
STAYING COOL: Hamilton said that his ‘heart nearly stopped’ when he noticed the puncture, but he kept going to beat Alain Prost’s total of six home wins in France
Lewis Hamilton said he feared he might not make it home when a last lap puncture almost derailed his charge to a record seventh British Grand Prix victory on Sunday. “I didn’t think I would make it round the last two corners,” the world champion said. The front left tire of his Mercedes had delaminated and deflated on his final lap, leaving the six-time world champion to nurse his vehicle to the finish as second-placed Max Verstappen hunted him down. “I just can’t believe it,” Hamilton said. “It was heart-stopping. I backed off and stayed chilled and was so glad it happened on the straight — not on a high-speed corner like Copse. That would have been a disaster.” Hamilton claimed a record seventh home win — passing Alain Prost’s total of six home wins in France — to increase his career total to 87, four short of Michael Schumacher’s record of 91. He also passed Ayrton Senna’s record of most races led from start to finish with his 20th lights-to-flag victory, but he said that it was a race finish like nothing he had experienced before. “Up until that last lap everything was relatively smooth sailing,” Hamilton said. Teammate “Valtteri [Bottas] was really pushing incredibly hard; I was doing some management of the tires. Then, when I heard his went, I looked at mine and it seemed fine.” “In the last few laps, I started to back off and then on the last lap it deflated. That was a real heart-in-the-mouth moment,” he said. “You could see it falling off the rim. From then, I was just managing it, and I was just praying to get round and not be too slow,” Hamilton said. “I have definitely never experienced anything like that on the last lap and my heart nearly stopped.” “I could hear him [Verstappen] catching me.
Taiwan Steel on Sunday grabbed three points with a narrow 1-0 win against Hang Yuan FC, to move into the No. 2 spot on the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) log, while Taipower FC beat NTUS 2-0 to maintain first place. Taking advantage early in the match of opposition defenders who had not yet settled down, Taiwan Steel’s attacking trio of Wu Chun-ching, Marc Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Benchy Astama from Haiti pushed forward with good passes. After only one minute of play, Fenelus dribbled from the right flank, feeding a short pass inside the penalty area to Astama, who slotted the ball into the net past goalkeeper Huang Chiu-lin. It was Astama’s eighth goal of the season, and he is now third on the TFPL scoring chart. Hang Yuan had supporters egging them on, as they were playing at home at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, and still had plenty of time left for an equalizer. However, time and again, after launching an attack the forwards and attacking midfielders failed to link up passes, and took too many touches in the opposition’s final third. Taiwan Steel’s defending line was anchored by centerhalf Su Te-tsai and Taiwan national squad regular Chen Wei-chuan. They received help from Russian midfielder Alim Zumakulov and Astama, who often moved back to snuff out threats. Both teams had been improving performance-wise, and both were going on a three-win streak, but it was Taiwan Steel who took the spoils by maintaining their 1-0 lead until the final whistle. Taipower recorded another win at their home ground in Kaohsiung over NTUS, with in-form striker Lee Hsiang-wei scoring a brace in the first half, to equal Astama’s at eight goals for the season. In other games, Taichung Futuro defeated Red Lions FC 3-2 at home, with Li Mao and Chiang
Russell Westbrook on Sunday scored 31 points and James Harden added 24 to rally the Houston Rockets over NBA overall leaders Milwaukee Bucks 120-116, despite a big night for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks led 112-104 after Khris Middleton’s three-pointer with three minutes, 14 seconds to play, but Houston closed the game with a 16-4 run. “It’s amazing,” Westbrook said. “We fought through. Adversity showed up and we showed off. All the guys in our locker room showed up to play for 48 minutes.” The Rockets went 21-of-61 from three-point range, matching an NBA record for the most three-point attempts by a club in a non-overtime game, with Danuel House hitting four and Harden among five other players who landed three from outside the arc. “You have to make the right reads and trust your teammates and that’s what I tried to do all night long,” Westbrook said. The Rockets also rallied from seven points down in the final minute to defeat the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. Westbrook, on a career-best run of 36 consecutive games with 20 or more points, hit 10-of-21 from the floor, 1-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 10-of-12 free throws. Harden had six steals, seven rebounds and seven assists. “We’ve got to keep executing at the end of close games,” Antetokounmpo said. “We weren’t able to do that. We’ve got to find the open man and hit more shots.” In other games on Sunday, it was: ‧ Celtics 128, Trail Blazers 124 ‧ Nets 118, Wizards 110 ‧ Magic 132, Kings 116 ‧ Spurs 108, Grizzlies 106 ‧ Suns 117, Mavericks 115
Going shopping was a top priority for Taylor Jenkins when he was first hired as coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. The man needed suits. NBA sidelines tend to look like fashion runways these days, with coaches in tailored suits, sharp ties and polished dress shoes, so Jenkins went out and bought appropriately for his first chance at being a head coach. However, at the restart of the season at Walt Disney World, the dress code has been relaxed to allow golf shirts, slacks and even sneakers — and coaches are thankful. Jenkins is among them, although he said that spending spree is not helping him much now. “I spent quite a bit of money picking out my wardrobe — first-time head coach — so I’ve invested quite a bit there to quote-unquote look good on the sidelines,” Jenkins said. At least he will be saving on dry cleaning for the foreseeable future. By league rule, male “coaches and assistant coaches must wear a sport coat or suit coat” during games. However, that rule was ditched for the restart, where there are no fans in the stands and games are played at the Walt Disney World resort near Orlando — where midday temperatures exceeding 32°C are not uncommon at this time of year. Coaches are mixing it up: short-sleeved golf shirts, long-sleeved gold shirts, some in team colors, some in bright colors. When Toronto beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, Raptors coach Nick Nurse was wearing a thin hoodie with a message printed on the front encouraging people to vote. “I love it,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “I hope that someday we adopt these dress code rules. Although I look very good in a suit and tie, I will admit, I’m also very, very comfortable wearing a Nuggets polo and a pair of TravisMathew athletic
US Lecce were on Sunday relegated from Serie A after one season in the top flight as a dramatic season on and off the pitch came to a close in Italy. Fabio Liverani’s side lost 4-3 at home to mid-table Parma, but would have dropped down to Serie B even if they had won as relegation rivals Genoa thumped Hellas Verona 3-0 in a match that saw four red cards, including one for Verona coach Ivan Juric. Lecce, who drop down to Serie B after finishing 17th, were a point behind Genoa going into the final round of matches and needed to beat Parma and hope Genoa failed to win against Verona to stay in the top division. However, unfortunate Lecce defender Fabio Lucioni made his team’s task harder after just 10 minutes when he bundled the ball into his own goal after Hernani’s shot thumped out off the post. Gianluca Caprari then doubled the away side’s lead 13 minutes later when he lashed home a superb first-time finish after being fed by Hernani. Seconds later, Antonio Sanabria scored the second of his two goals for Genoa to put the hosts 2-0 up against Verona at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, effectively ending Lecce’s hopes of a final day miracle. Entertaining Lecce did not give up though and two quick goals put them level, Antonin Barak heading them back into the game in the 40th minute before Biagio Meccariello equalized with another bullet header just before the break. However, by that time Genoa were three goals ahead and as good as safe thanks to Cristian Romero’s own beautifully-placed header. Andreas Cornelius then put Parma back ahead six minutes after the restart when he tapped in Antonino Barilla’s low cross, before Barilla then provided another perfect pass for Roberto Inglese to re-establish Parma’s two-goal lead in the 66th minute. That was
Aaron Judge hit his second homer of the game with two outs in the eighth inning, helping the New York Yankees complete a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 9-7 victory on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium. Judge hit a three-run homer in the second off Matt Hall and then hit the decisive homer when he hammered a 2-0 curveball from Matt Barnes (0-1) over the visiting bullpen and into the left-center field bleachers to give the Yankees a 9-7 lead. Judge’s 468-foot (142.6m) drive occurred three pitches after D.J. LeMahieu hit a game-tying single that scored Mike Tauchman, who singled and stole second base. Judge homered for a career-high fifth straight game. He became the first Yankee to homer in five straight games since Alex Rodriguez did so in September 2007. Luke Voit also homered, while Gio Urshela and Gary Sanchez contributed RBI doubles as the Yankees ran their winning streak to six games. The Red Sox took a 7-6 lead with two outs in the seventh on a homer by Rafael Devers off Michael King. Xander Bogaerts enjoyed a big night for the Red Sox with a pair of homers while tying a career high with four hits. He hit a two-run homer four batters into the game off James Paxton and then slugged a solo drive in the fifth off King. Bogaerts finished with his eighth career multihomer game. The shortstop also produced at least four hits for the 16th time in his career. Devers also had an RBI single in Boston’s three-run third off Paxton and scored on a fielding error by left fielder Miguel Andujar, who misplayed a single by Bogaerts. Christian Vazquez added an RBI single for the Red Sox, who scored more than five runs for the second time this season, but fell to 1-10 in their last 11
IS IT ENOUGH? After the captain dropped the cup, head coach Mikel Arteta promised him ‘more experience with trophies,’ saying that he hopes he will not be lured away
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta hopes that captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will stay to lead the Gunners to more success after scoring twice to beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final on Saturday. Aubameyang dropped the trophy before lifting his first piece of silverware since moving to English football from Borussia Dortmund two and a half years ago. Victory secured Arsenal’s place in the UEFA Europa League next season, as they risked missing out on European football for the first time in 25 years after finishing eighth in the Premier League. However, with Aubameyang facing another season without UEFA Champions League soccer and just one year left on his contract with Arsenal, the Gabon international has been linked with a move away this summer. “He needs more experience with trophies. We can get him used to that,” said Arteta, joking after Aubameyang’s mishap with the trophy lift. “He knows what I think about him; I want to build a squad around him,” Arteta said. “I think he wants to stay. It is about getting the deal done. I think moments like that will help to realize and give him belief that we are in the right path and he is a big part of it.” Arteta also played his part to win a trophy in his first season in a senior managerial role after Chelsea made a blistering start in the eerie surroundings of an empty Wembley Stadium. The Blues had already achieved their primary goal from head coach Frank Lampard’s first season in charge by securing a place in next season’s Champions League last weekend, and started confidently as Christian Pulisic’s composed finish opened the scoring just five minutes in. “We started well for 10 to 15 minutes, and we can only blame ourselves form that point,” Lampard said. “We got complacent, we took time on the
Lewis Hamilton smashed the track record twice on Saturday to grab a record seventh British Grand Prix pole position with a stunning performance in a tense qualifying session. Hamilton, who was looking to secure a record-increasing seventh Silverstone victory yesterday, finished ahead of his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas by more than three-tenths of a second after the Finn had been fastest in final practice, and then again in both Q2 and Q3 when he also set lap records. The defending six-time champion and current series leader bounced back from a ragged performance, including a spin, in the first parts of qualifying to claim his 65th pole with Mercedes and the record-increasing 91st of his career. It was also a record eighth successive Mercedes pole success in Britain on a day when they were clear of their nearest rivals, Red Bull, by a full second, Max Verstappen taking third place on the grid ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Rising British star Lando Norris, 20, was fifth for McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll in Racing Point’s ‘pink Mercedes,’ Carlos Sainz in the second McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo and his Renault teammate Esteban Oconm and Sebastian Vettel, who was 10th for Ferrari. “This track is awesome, but it is tough out there — with the winds, it is like juggling balls on a moving plate,” Hamilton said. “I had a spin, and as you know qualifying is all about confidence, and I was struggling in the first sectors of every lap, but I took some deep breaths, composed myself and in Q3 I had a clear lap, and the second one was even better.” “It still isn’t perfect, but it never gets old,” he added. He said that it was strange to drive without any fans in the circuit. “Usually, it’s all sirens, flags and smoke and the atmosphere
The Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Canadiens, with the fewest wins of any NHL playoff teams, ignited the rink returning from a COVID-19 hiatus with upset triumphs in Saturday openers. NHL Rookie of the Year candidate Dominik Kubalik inspired the Blackhawks to a 6-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in game one of their best-of-five qualifying series at Edmonton, Alberta, scoring two goals and assisting on three others. “We were ready to go, and I think the game was pretty good,” Kubalik said. “I felt pretty good and everything went my way, so it’s nice, but it’s just the first game, so we’ve got to keep going.” Montreal’s Jeff Petry scored with six minutes, three seconds remaining in overtime to give the Canadiens a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in their opener at Toronto after each team had missed a late penalty shot. Other playoff games on the first day of the NHL’s return from a March 12 COVID-19 shutdown saw the Carolina Hurricanes edge the New York Rangers 3-2, the New York Islanders beat the Florida Panthers 2-1 and the Calgary Flames defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1. Edmonton is the Western Conference hub city and Toronto the Eastern Conference hub city for quarantine bubbles being used to help safeguard NHL players from the novel coronavirus, which halted the campaign with three weeks remaining in the season. A dozen teams from each conference are in the playoffs, the top four season finishers in each city playing one another to determine seeding order for the first round of the playoffs. The other eight clubs in each conference meet in qualifying best-of-five matchups to decide the other four teams that will reach the first round of the best-of-seven playoffs. At Toronto, Montreal’s Carey Price made 39 saves for the 12th-seeded Canadiens to stun the fifth-seeded Penguins. Pittsburgh’s Conor Sheary missed wide
The Auckland Blues maintained their outside chance of claiming New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa title with a 32-21 victory over a hard-finishing Otago Highlanders in Dunedin yesterday. They led 32-16 after 55 minutes and then produced a gritty defence to hold off the desperate Highlanders who controlled the final quarter and threw everything at the visitors. Blues captain Paddy Tuipulotu summed up the game as “a real nail-biter,” and rated it as one of his side’s best performances in their late charge for the championship. “I think it was. Coming down to the last five minutes it was really close points-wise,” he said. “We had to dig in deep with our D [defense] and it was good for us to hang our hat on the D and get the win.” However, after disposing of the Highlanders, the Blues now need the Otago club to do them a favor and beat the table-topping Canterbury Crusaders next weekend. A Crusaders win would give them the title with a week to spare, but an upset Highlanders victory would set up a final-round decider between the Blues and the Crusaders at Eden Park in Auckland. Following the bonus-point victory against the Highlanders the Blues trail the Crusaders by two points, although they have a bye next weekend. Against the Highlanders they scored four tries in the first half, but were left frustrated when they were denied a fifth after Dalton Papalii galloped 70m to the try line from an intercept. The try was disallowed after the referee ruled that a prone Karl Tu’inukuafe impeded play when Highlanders scrumhalf Aaron Smith tripped over him as the Highlanders scrambled to retain possession before the intercept. The Blues produced a rollicking start with tries to standout backrower Akira Ioane and Finlay Christie in the opening 10 minutes. Once the Highlanders settled, they gained momentum
SNOOKER Bingham plays blame game Stuart Bingham blamed sanitized snooker balls for his struggle to get over the line against qualifier Ashley Carty in an empty arena at the World Snooker Championship on Saturday. The former world champion, who had fashioned a 5-4 lead in the opening session in front of a handful of fans at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre on Friday, went on to win 10-7. He then became the first player to wrap up victory since fans were belatedly barred after a change of government policy on test events for spectators. The World Snooker Tour said there are no additional protocols in place with regard to cleaning the balls. “I felt lost with the table and the balls. I don’t know whether they had been sanitized,” Bingham said. “I played a red near the green pocket, and screwed back past the blue pocket — I’ve never done that in my life, but it is what it is, and if it’s sanitized, you’ve just got to get on with it.” CRICKET Bairstow speeds up win A “revved up” Jonny Bairstow put the disappointment of his Test axe behind him as he equaled the England record for the fastest one-day international 50 during the world champions’ four-wicket, series-clinching win over Ireland in Saturday’s second one-day international in Southampton, England. Bairstow’s 21-ball half-century equaled skipper Eoin Morgan’s mark against Australia in Nottingham two years ago, and he went on to make a dashing 82. Player of the match Bairstow told Sky Sports: “Sometimes I just need a bit of a rev up every now and again, whether that be picking a fight with something on the field or external motivators.” England won with more than 17 overs remaining after earlier holding Ireland to 212-9. SOCCER Howe quits Bournemouth Eddie Howe on Saturday left his job as AFC Bournemouth manager by
LEAVING IT LATE: Rakuten added late runs last night to add to wins on Wednesday against the Brothers and the Lions on Friday that went down to the last batter
The Rakuten Monkeys rallied to post three late runs for another close win, prevailing 5-3 over the Uni-President Lions yesterday as Taiwan’s second-half CPBL season got started with lower scoring output, but exciting finishes. It was Rakuten’s third win in a row. In two games this week, they seized victory in dramatic fashion with their last at-bat and have drawn level with the CTBC Brothers on top of the table after yesterday’s results, 0.5 games in front of the Fubon Guardians and 1.5 games ahead of the Lions. It was tied at 1-1 early, with Rakuten hosting the Lions at the Taoyuan Intenational Stadium yesterday. The visitors piled on two runs in the top of fourth to go ahead 3-1, but in the bottom of the inning, Rakuten first baseman Chen “My Show” Chun-hsiu blasted a solo homer to close the gap to run. Shut down by stellar pitching on both sides, the scoreline remained the same through to the seventh frame, when Rakuten designated hitter Lin “Chubby Kid” Hong-yi slapped a single to get on base. Liao Chien-fu in the next at-bat drilled the ball over the right-field fence for a two-run homer, giving his team their first lead at 4-3. In the bottom of eighth, Chen drove another run in with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3 for the home side. Closer Chen Yu-hsun got the call at the top of ninth. He had control problems, issuing a walk and a single to the Lions, but got a fly-out and struck out two to record his seventh save. In the other game last night, the Brothers left it even later with a run in the 10th inning to edge the Guardians 3-2 at the Taichung Intercontinental Stadium. After trading early runs, it was tied at 2-2 without further scoring through to the regulation ninth inning, with the
Pablo Sarabia scored the winning penalty in a shoot-out as Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for the Champions League by defeating Olympique Lyonnais in Friday’s Coupe de la Ligue final to claim another domestic treble. The Spaniard’s successful kick came after Keylor Navas saved from Bertrand Traore and allowed PSG to win 6-5 on penalties after the game at the Stade de France finished 0-0 at the end of extra time. The victory came a week after PSG beat AS Saint-Etienne 1-0 in the Coupe de France final, the first competitive match on French soil since the COVID-19 shutdown. They had previously been awarded the Ligue 1 title by virtue of being top when the season was ended in April with 10 rounds of matches unplayed because of the pandemic. Before penalties, Thomas Tuchel’s team had the better of a terse final on a sweaty night, but they badly missed the injured Kylian Mbappe. The masked France superstar watched from the stands as Lyon kept PSG at bay for two hours before having Brazilian defender Rafael sent off for chopping down Angel di Maria on the edge of the box late in extra time. Mbappe was injured in last week’s final, sustaining a sprained ankle that looks likely to rule him out of the Champions League quarter-final against Atalanta BC in Lisbon on Aug. 12. PSG are desperate for tangible success in Europe, but on this evidence they still have some rust to shake off before being ready for that test. “We suffered, but it’s beautiful to win at the end. We will celebrate this and then tomorrow we will start to think about another big match,” Marco Verratti told France 2 television. This is the Qatar-owned club’s fourth treble in the past six years, but the Coupe de la Ligue, an unloved competition, will be discontinued next season. COVID-19
The Canterbury Crusaders bounced back from a loss last week with a ruthless 32-19 victory over the Waikato Chiefs in Super Rugby Aotearoa yesterday to be on the verge of sealing the title. Poor discipline by the Crusaders allowed the Chiefs to stay in touch with a string of penalties in the first 60 minutes, but as they so often do, the Crusaders pulled away in the final quarter, although with a question mark over one of their late tries. The Super Rugby champions for the past three seasons until the COVID-19 pandemic brought this year’s competition to a halt, they need only one more win with two games to play to claim the New Zealand domestic title. A week ago, after a loss to the Wellington Hurricanes, there were questions about how the Crusaders would handle defeat. “We had a real honest review, looked in the mirror and said we didn’t front up last week and knew what we were coming up here for,” captain Codie Taylor said. “I’m just really proud we came up here and put on a good show. It was a hell of an arm wrestle and a couple opportunities we took and that’s what it’s about.” While the Crusaders have played six and won five, the Chiefs have played and lost seven. “It hurts,” captain Sam Cane said, listing a yellow card just before halftime and a disputed second-half try as key moments. “We’ll look at those two moments and how we can better, but credit to the Crusaders, it was a tough battle.” The Crusaders outscored the Chiefs five tries to one, but they conceded 13 penalties with Damian McKenzie kicking four to keep the Chiefs in touch. Tom Sanders and Will Jordan scored the first two tries as the Crusaders raced to a 12-0 lead. The Chiefs opened their account by
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