Latest - New Zealand golfer Steven Alker has continued his great form on the Champions Tour, winning the PGA Championship, one of the majors on the senior tour.
Steven Alker Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Alker fired a final round eight under par 63 to clinch a three shot victory in Michigan.
He started the final round four shots off the lead.
It is his fourth tournament victory since joining the tour last August.
The 50 year old has won three of his last five tournaments and finished second and third in the other two.
He pockets $965,000 for today's win.
Canadian Stephen Ames was second with Bernhard Langer of Germany third.
Gujurat win IPL in first season
Debutants Gujarat Titans have been crowned the Indian Premier League champions after beating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in the final in Ahmedabad.
Lockie Ferguson Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Opting to bat first, 2008 champions Rajasthan never got going and posted a below-par 130-9 with Jos Buttler, this IPL's leading scorer, topscoring for them with a rather subdued 39.
Trent Boult made 11, while Lockie Ferguson bowled three overs and took none for 22.
Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya took three wickets and shone with the bat too, scoring 34 and forging a 63-run stand with Shubman Gill to help Gujarat overcome a slow start to their chase.
Opener Gill remained unbeaten on 45, sealing Gujarat's victory with a six and with 11 balls to spare.
Boult took one for 14 from his four overs.
Boult now heads to England to join up with the Black Caps test squad.
-Reuters
Forest return to Premier League
Nottingham Forest beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the Championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium to return to the Premier League after a 23-year absence.
The decisive goal came in the 43rd minute when Huddersfield defender Levi Colwill deflected a James Garner shot into his own net.
Former European champions Forest were relegated from the top flight in 1999 and they join Bournemouth and Fulham, who won automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Forest, who had beaten Sheffield United to reach the playoff final, were English champions in 1978 under Brian Clough and went on to win the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.
Huddersfield had been relegated from the Premier League in 2019 after two seasons in the top division and had finished 18th and 20th in the past two campaigns.
-Reuters
Sevens team beaten
The All Blacks Sevens have been beaten 19-14 by Australia in extra time in the final of the London leg of the World Series.
Akuila Rokolisoa Photo: PHOTOSPORT
In the quarter-finals New Zealand beat Ireland 17-7 and Fiji 22-19 in the semi-finals.
In the final Akuila Rokolisoa and Leroy Carter touched down with the game 14-all at the end of regulation time.
Player of the final Henry Paterson then scored his third try of the final in golden point extra time to clinch the title for Australia.
Fiji beat Samoa 31-26 in the play-off for third.
Australia are now up to second in the standings behind South Africa with one round to play.
New Zealand, who have played just four tournaments, are ninth.
Fox goes down in a play-off
Auckland golfer Ryan Fox has been beaten in a play-off for the Dutch Open title.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Fox fired a final round four under par 68 to tie at the top of the leaderboard with Frenchman Victor Perez.
The par then played four extra holes with Perez dropping a birdie on a par three while Fox only managed par.
The result continues a good run of form for the 35 year old which now includes four top ten finishes in his four World Tour events.
The result will also confirm his place in the next two majors, the US Open and the British Open.
Black Caps well beaten
The Black Caps have been beaten by a County Selection by seven wickets in their second and final warmup game ahead of the first test in England.
The New Zealanders were rolled for just 148 in their second innings yesterday leaving the locals with a target of 263.
They achieved that for the loss of just three wickets with opener Ben Compton scoring a century.
Ajaz Patel picked up two wickets to finish with five for the match.
The first test against England starts at Lord's on Thursday night.
More success for NZ paddlers
New Zealand paddlers and in particular Dame Lisa Carrington will return home satisfied with their Word Cup campaign.
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Carrington won another two medals at the second regatta in Poland with gold in the K1 500 and silver in the K4 500.
In rough conditions she finished a second ahead of Poland's Anna Pulawska with Jule Hake of Germany third.
Meanwhile the K4 500 crew of Carrington, Alicia Hoskin, Olivia Brett and Tara Vaughn improved on last weekend's effort in the Czech Republic by finishing second to Poland with another Polish crew third.
Carrington and Hoskin finished fourth in the K2 500.
The New Zealand team now returns home to prepare for the World Championships in Canada in August.
Lester Piggott dies
Former champion British jockey Lester Piggott, who won the Epsom Derby nine times and was widely considered one of the greatest riders of all time, has died at the age of 86.
Piggott had gone into hospital in Switzerland last week.
Piggott began racing horses aged 10 and went on to accumulate more than 4,000 victories in a storied career during which he was crowned British champion jockey a remarkable 11 times.
He was an awarded an OBE in 1975 but was later stripped of the honour after being convicted of tax fraud in 1987 and sentenced to three years in jail.
-Reuters
Venus upset at Roland Garros
New Zealand tennis player Michael Venus and his German partner Tim Puetz have been beaten in the third round at the French Open.
Venus and Puetz Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The 7th seeds were beaten in three sets by 12th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo.
The Dutch/El Salvadoran combination won 6-4 2-6 6-1 in an hour and 37 minutes.
It's a disappointing result for Venus who won the 2017 French Open doubles title with American Ryan Harrison.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and her Polish partner Alicja Rosolska play their third-round match at Roland Garros tonight against Belgian Greet Minnen and Hungary's Anna Bondar.
Australian wins Giro for the first time
Bora-Hansgrohe rider Jai Hindley became the first Australian winner of the Giro d'Italia after safely coming through the final stage, a 17.1-kilometre time trial around Verona, to stay ahead of Ecuadorian challenger Richard Carapaz.
A powerful finish to yesterday's final mountainous Giro stage gave Hindley a commanding lead over Carapaz in the general classification, meaning he just had to avoid disaster in Verona to claim his first Grand Tour title, which he did with ease.
Hindley had reason to be cautious going into the finale. In 2020, the Australian lost a Giro title that was in his hands to Tao Geoghegan Hart in the Milan time trial -- the Briton pulling back 39 seconds in the final 15.7-km stage.
However, this time Hindley's efforts in the final kilometres on Saturday left Carapaz for dead, after he had gone into the 20th stage behind the Ecuadorian in the general classification, and he held a significant one minute and 25 second overall advantage ahead of the time trial.
-Reuters
Ducati wins home grand prix
Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia held off a spirited challenge from reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha to win the Italian Grand Prix in front of his home fans at the Mugello Circuit.
From fifth on the grid, Bagnaia had a bad start as he dropped to ninth on the opening lap but the Italian fought back to slowly make his way to the top.
With 15 laps to go, Bagnaia overtook Marco Bezzechi of Mooney VR46 Racing Team in first place with a brilliant move heading into Turn 1.
Bagnaia held on to his lead for the rest of the race and finished 0.635 seconds ahead of Quartararo, securing his second win of the season after the Spanish Grand Prix.
Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez was 10th on his Repsol Honda in what was likely his final race of the season, with the Spaniard set to undergo a fourth surgical operation on his arm next week.
Quartararo still leads the championship.
-Reuters
Rangnick leaves Man U
Ralf Rangnick will not stay on in a consultancy role at Manchester United following his six-month tenure as interim manager, citing the demands of his new job as Austria national team coach.
Rangnick, making way for Erik ten Hag, had an agreement to work as a consultant for two years and confirmed last month he would remain at the club despite his appointment as Austria manager.
United finished sixth in the Premier League under Rangnick, who took over at Old Trafford following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November.
Incoming boss Ten Hag would not be drawn on Rangnick's position with the club when asked during his unveiling if he would welcome the 63-year-old's consultancy role next season.
-Reuters
