AUTO RACING

Final appeal turned down over Newman’s tires

NASCAR’s final appeals officer upheld penalties levied against Richard Childress Racing for intentionally manipulating Ryan Newman’s tires in March.

The decision of Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss is final. He ruled Wednesday there was “a preponderance of evidence” that RCR manipulated the tires.

Moss could have reduced, thrown out or even increased the penalties NASCAR initially levied after confiscating tires from several teams following a race at California. NASCAR said RCR intentionally altered the tires to let air leak out during a run – a process known as “bleeding” – to give Newman an advantage.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Lionel Messi had two goals and set up Neymar for another as Barcelona scored three late goals to overwhelm visiting Bayern Munich and former coach Pep Guardiola 3-0 in the first leg of their semifinal.

The second leg of the total-goals series is Tuesday in Munich. The following night, Real Madrid tries to overturn a 2-1 deficit against visiting Juventus.

FOOTBALL

NFL: Arizona received cornerback Alfonzo Dennard from New England on a waiver claim.

Dennard made 20 starts and played in 29 games in three seasons with New England, finishing with 92 tackles, five interceptions, 17 passes defensed, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble. Last season he had 15 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery in six games – four starts – before being placed on injured reserve on Dec. 27 because of a hamstring problem.

• A woman accused San Francisco linebacker Ahmad Brooks of groping her while she was unconscious at the home of a former teammate, Ray McDonald.

TENNIS

MADRID OPEN: Top-seeded Roger Federer made an early exit after a second-round defeat to Nick Kyrgios of Australia.

Kyrgios, a 20-year-old from Canberra, ended Federer’s hopes of a fourth title at the Spanish tournament by rallying for a 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (12) victory.

HOCKEY

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Canada rallied to maintain a perfect record by beating Sweden 6-4 in Prague for its fourth straight victory.

In other matches, defending champion Russia bounced back from a loss to the United States with a 5-2 victory over Denmark, and Latvia and Norway ended their three-game losing streaks by edging Switzerland 2-1 and Slovakia 3-2, respectively.

TRACK AND FIELD

TOOTH EXTRACTION: Bryan Clay, an American decathlete, used a little creative dentistry to extract a loose bottom tooth from the mouth of his 5-year-old daughter, Ellie. He tied a piece of floss to the tooth and a javelin, then sent the javelin flying.

Out popped the tooth. It’s all captured in a video that’s going viral.

PREP SCHOOLS

BOYS’ LACROSSE: Blaine Farrell scored four times, and Drew Hale had two goals and three assists to lead visiting Berwick Academy (8-5) to a 19-0 victory against Concord (Massachusetts) Academy (2-5).

GIRLS’ LACROSSE: Tatiana Bradley, Aimee Briand, Lizzy Gross, Laura Hoy and Maeve Brin scored two goals each as Berwick Academy (8-0) defeated Beaver Country Day School (3-6-1) 18-9 at South Berwick.

– From staff and news services