Latest - The 17-year-old Alpine ski racer Alice Robinson has won the New Zealand National Women's Giant Slalom Championship title at her training ground of Coronet Peak.
Alice Robinson was crowned National NZ Women’s giant slalom champion. Photo: Stash Media Worx
It's a continuation of her success from the northern hemisphere season to home snow at the Alpine National Championships in Queenstown.
Robinson - who is now ranked 10th in the world for women's Giant Slalom - took a convincing 2.01s lead in run one and stretched it to 3.34s ahead of Great Britain's Cara Brown on run two.
Eliza Grigg was the second New Zealand racer home, finishing in eighth place overall.
Gold for NZ at World Rowing Junior Champs
The women's quad has taken gold at the World Rowing Junior Championships where three other New Zealand crews also made A Finals on the last day of the Championships in Tokyo.
Eva Hofmans, Rebecca Leigh, Shakira Mirfin and Phoebe Trolove were in the lead of the final from 1000m and comfortably ahead of Germany, who took silver and Romania, bronze.
"I loved the second 500 meters in our race! We pushed into the lead and held well together. I'm over the moon with the result," said Leigh.
Huge Mitre10 Cup win for BOP
Bay of Plenty have created history by hitting 50-points for the first time ever with a 50-7 win over Otago in their Mitre10 provincial rugby clash in Tauranga.
And the Magpies have picked up a 31-13 bonus point win with a powerful second half display over Manawatu in Palmerston North.
Yesterday, Waikato stunned Canterbury in Hamilton 31-28 in the first round of the competition.
Canterbury, last year's beaten finalists led 21-14 at half-time.
Earlier, Tasman whalloped the Wellington Lions 45-8 in Blenheim, while Taranaki beat Counties-Manukau 34-29 in Pukekohe.
Williams survives a scare
Serena Williams rallied to avoid a stunning upset and secure a 1-6 6-3 6-3 semi-final win over Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova at the Rogers Cup, setting up a title showdown with local teenager Bianca Andreescu.
Williams will now face 19-year-old Andreescu, who beat American Sofia Kenin in the other semi-final to become the first Canadian woman to reach the final of the tournament since 1969.
Andreescu, was the story of the ASB classic in Auckland earlier this year after knocking out Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams before coming up just short in the final.
She shot to more prominence with her Indian Wells triumph in March, and is competing for the first time since withdrawing from the French Open with a shoulder injury.
Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal will play Russia's Daniil Medvedev for the Canadian Open title in Montreal after injured Frenchman Gael Monfils withdrew from his semi-final match with the Spanish top seed.
- Reuters
City thump Hammers
Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick as champions Manchester City made a convincing start to their title defence with a 5-0 win over West Ham United, in a game which saw heavy use of video review, at the London Stadium.
Manchester City's Raheem Sterling in EPL action. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Brazilian Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a deft close-range finish after a scorching burst and low cross from Kyle Walker.
Sterling made it 2-0, six minutes after the interval, with a cool finish after Kevin De Bruyne had burst from midfield and fed the England forward.
Jesus then became the first player to have a goal disallowed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the Premier League when, in the 53rd minute, he finished off Sterling's pass following a fine move. However, the VAR adjudged that Sterling was marginally offside as he ran into the box.
VAR, making its debut this season, was used again to review and eventually validate Sterling's second, when he collected a lofted ball into the box and lobbed West Ham keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
The video staff were busy again in the 84th minute when City were awarded a penalty for Issa Diop's foul on Riyad Mahrez. Substitute Aguero's penalty soft penalty was saved but VAR ruled that Declan Rice was encroaching into the box and referee Mike Dean ordered a re-take - which the Argentine scored before Sterling completed his hat-trick.
Elsewhere Tottenham came from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-1, Burnley beat Southampton 3-0 and Crystal Palace and Everton drew 0-0.
- Reuters
Injury concern for Ireland
A second-half injury to Joey Carbery has soured Ireland's opening 29-10 Rugby World Cup warm-up win over Italy in Dublin.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The first-five was the stand-out performer of an experimental home line-up before leaving the field in tears.
The injury to Johnny Sexton's undisputed understudy gave Joe Schmidt a fright six weeks before the tournament begins although the Ireland coach said after the game that while Carbery's ankle was swollen, x-rays showed it was not fractured.
"It's too soon to say but I don't think it's going to keep him out of the World Cup," the New Zealander told Irish national broadcaster RTE.
Before his departure, Carbery had kicked near flawlessly, including some dangerous grubbers, scored one try and had a hand in the two other first-half scores.
Ireland face hosts Japan and Scotland in World Cup Pool A, having been considered one of the favourites for the title before a disappointing defence of their Six Nations title this year.
- Reuters
Farah limps off in loss
Robbie Farah's final weeks in the NRL are in danger and the Wests Tigers' finals hopes were dented by a shock 18-16 defeat to Canterbury.
Farah limped from the field in the first half at Bankwest Stadium after injuring his right knee when he became tangled with Lachlan Lewis in a tackle.
It headlined a horror night for the Wests Tigers, who led 8-0 at half-time before Paul Morirovski missed a last-minute conversion kick that would have sent the match to golden point.
It marked a cruel end to the night for the winger, who had earlier scored twice before shanking his goal kick from 15m to the left of the posts.
A win over the lowly-ranked Bulldogs would have seen them stay in the top eight with four rounds to play, but they'll now finish the weekend 10th and one point adrift.
- AAP
Marquez takes another pole
Honda's world champion Marc Marquez has celebrated a record 59th MotoGP pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix to overtake retired Australian Mick Doohan in the all-time lists.
Marc Marquez. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Spaniard's best lap of one minute 23.027 seconds was a track record at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring and 0.434 faster than French rider Fabio Quartararo, second fastest on a Petronas Yamaha.
Italian Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez's closest championship rival but 63 points behind after 10 of 19 races, completed the front row for Ducati.
Italian great Valentino Rossi will line up 10th for Yamaha.
MotoGP and Austrian Grand Prix organisers also announced a five-year contract extension for the race, keeping it on the calendar until at least 2025.
- Reuters
Japan beat United States
Japan overpowered a dogged United States 34-20 to win the Pacific Nations Cup in Suva and enjoy a timely confidence boost six weeks out from hosting the Rugby World Cup.
Captain Michael Leitch scored a try in each half, with winger Kenki Fukuoka and fullback Ryohei Yamanaka also crossing to give the undefeated Brave Blossoms their third triumph in the tournament after claiming the 2011 title and sharing the 2014 trophy with Samoa.
Despite a selection shake-up and some early fumbles, Japan soon produced the high-pace, running rugby that saw them rack up big scores in the defeats of Fiji and Tonga.
Jamie Joseph, back in charge after missing the win over Tonga due to the death of his mother, was underwhelmed by the win, however, and felt his team had put themselves under pressure.
- Reuters
Rain washes out Black Caps warm-up
Rain has washed out the final day of the three day warm-up match between the Black Caps and a Sri Lankan Board Eleven in Colombo.
The match has been called a draw.
Rain also prevented any play on the second day of the tour match.
The locals ended the first day on 323 for six.
The first Test against Sri Lanka starts in Galle on Wednesday.
