Digest

SWIMMING

Leukemia survivor Ikee earns Olympic berth

Rikako Ikee

Japanese swimming star Rikako Ikee defied the odds and secured an Olympics berth after the leukemia survivor won the women's 100-meter butterfly at her country's national championships on Sunday.

Ikee pumped her fist and received a hug from a competitor in the next lane after finishing in 57.77 seconds, qualifying her for the 4x100 medley relay at this summer's Games, less than eight months after she returned to competition.

She then broke into tears and took some time to exit the water having become overcome with emotion.

"I am so happy right now," the 20-year-old said in a poolside interview.

"I never thought I would be able to win the 100. I was much less confident than at the Olympic qualifiers five years ago. I thought winning was something that would only happen in the distant future."

Ikee had been expected to be one of Japan's top medal hopefuls at the Tokyo Olympics before she was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019.

BASKETBALL

Debutant Fogg leads Liaoning past Nanjing

Kyle Fogg had a game-high 27 points on his debut for the Liaoning Flying Leopards, helping his new side to a 112-83 CBA victory over the Nanjing Monkey Kings in Zhuji, Zhejiang province on Sunday.

The game was not as a one-sided as the final score suggested. Nanjing made a good start with a two-point lead in the first quarter, before Liaoning gradually began to gain the upper hand to lead 53-43 by the interval.

Six Liaoning players had scores in double-digits, while only three Nanjing players managed likewise.

Liaoning's OJ Mayo had 20 points and Han Dejun scored 16. Arnett Moultrie had a team-high 20 points and 12 rebounds for Nanjing.

"The whole team was very helpful for my arrival. I hope to improve every day and lead the team forward," said Fogg.

Meanwhile, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers enjoyed a 112-98 win over the Jiangsu Dragons. Despite his team's loss, Dezmine Wells recorded a game-high 38 points for Jiangsu, while Zhou Qi top-scored for Xinjiang with 25.

SOCCER

United's Martial could miss rest of season

Anthony Martial

Manchester United striker Anthony Martial could miss the rest of the season because of a left knee injury, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Sunday.

Martial was hurt while playing for France in a World Cup qualifier at Kazakhstan last week.

"Losing Anthony for what might be the rest of the season is very disappointing," Solskjaer said ahead of Sunday's 2-1 Premier League victory over Brighton. "Especially when reports from there (France) was that it wasn't anything serious but it looks a bad one."

Martial appeared to jar his knee by getting his studs caught in the synthetic turf at Astana Arena during France's 2-0 win. It was the type of issue France coach Didier Deschamps had been concerned about before the match.

Martial got back up and continued for a few moments, but was taken off by Deschamps.

BASEBALL

Vintage Gehrig bat sells for over $700K

A bat Lou Gehrig used late in his career sold for $715,120 at auction this weekend.

The online bidding ended Saturday night.

SCP Auctions said the Gehrig bat dated to 1938, his next-to-last season in the majors. It came from the collection of Yankees Hall of Fame teammate Earle Combs' family.

The original home plate from the original Yankee Stadium when it opened in 1923 sold for $303,277.

The plate is from the year the Yankees won their first World Series championship. The Yankees previously played at the Polo Grounds, the home of the New York Giants.

GOLF

Spieth ends drought with victory in Texas

Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth ended a slump that lasted nearly four years, closing with a 6-under 66 on Sunday to win the Valero Texas Open for his first victory since the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Now he heads to this week's Masters as one of the favorites.

"This is a monumental win for me," Spieth said. "It's been a long road. There were a lot of times that I didn't know I would be here."

Spieth sealed it with a five-foot birdie on the 17th hole, and he won by two shots over Charley Hoffman.

The 27-year-old Spieth went 82 starts on the PGA Tour without a victory since Royal Birkdale, and nearly fell out of the top 100 in the world at the start of this year.

He is typically a favorite at the Masters, where he was runner-up in his debut in 2014, won wire-to-wire the next year and was runner-up again in 2016.

TENNIS

French Open could be postponed, says govt

French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said on the weekend the French Open could be postponed for the second year amid the COVID-19 crisis.

France entered a third nationwide lockdown on Saturday to contain the coronavirus spread, although professional sports have largely been spared. An exception is cycling's Paris-Roubaix one-day race, which has been postponed from its original April 11 slot.

The French Open, which last year was postponed by four months and took place in front of limited fans, is due to start this year on May 23.

"We are in discussion with them (the French Tennis Federation, which organizes the event) to see if we should change the date to coincide with a possible resumption of all sports and major events," Maracineanu told France Info radio.

"Today, although high-level sport has been preserved, we try to limit the risks of clusters, of spreading the virus within professional sports."

Xinhua - Agencies