HOCKEY

Austria pulled off a major upset at the ice hockey world championship on Tuesday, stunning the Czech Republic 2-1 after prevailing in a penalty shootout in Tampere, Finland.

It was Austria’s first victory over the Czechs at a major tournament. Austria’s Peter Schneider was the only player to convert his penalty in the shootout.

It was Austria’s first win of the tournament after two losses, moving the team up to fifth place in Group B with three points, trailing the Czechs in fourth by a point.

Czech Captain Roman Cervenka had put his team ahead in the opening period but Brian Lebler equalized with 38 seconds remaining.

The Czechs are hoping David Pastrnak will boost their attack when he arrives in Finland after his Boston Bruins were eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. He should be available for the next game against Latvia on Thursday.

Advertisement

In another Group B game, Anton Bengtsson had two goals and an assist and Rasmus Asplund scored twice as Sweden routed Britain 6-0 to join Finland atop the standings. Britain is last with one point.

In Group A in Helsinki, Switzerland made it three wins from three by defeating Kazakhstan 3-2 to join Canada on nine points.

Also, Denmark beat Italy 2-1 for its second win. Italy and Kazakhstan remain pointless.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: DeWanna Bonner made her season debut for Connecticut and scored 12 of her 16 points in the decisive first half and the Sun beat the New York Liberty 92-65 in New York

Natasha Heideman had a season-high 15 points, Brionna Jones scored 14, Jonquel Jones 13 and Alyssa Thomas had 12 points and four steals. Courtney Williams, who also sat out the first two games (suspension), had four points on 1-of-4 shooting with 18 minutes.

Advertisement

• Rhyne Howard scored 19 points, Cheyenne Parker added 17 and the Atlanta Dream beat the Indiana Fever 101-79 in Indianapolis.

Erica Wheeler had a season-high 16 points and rookie Kristy Wallace added a career-best 15 for Atlanta. Wallace was a second-round pick out of Baylor in 2018 and made her WNBA debut in the season opener after playing professionally in her native Australia the last four seasons.

• Shakira Austin, the No. 3 overall pick in last month’s draft, scored 12 of her career-high 20 points in the second half as the Washington Mystics pulled away for a 84-68 win over the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas

The 6-foot-5 Austin made 9 of 11 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots. Elena Delle Donne added 14 points for Washington (4-1), Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 11 and Natasha Cloud and Kennedy Burke each had 10 points.

SOCCER

MLS: The Chicago Fire’s Gabriel Slonina, an 18-year-old viewed as a goalkeeper of the future for the U.S. national team, was listed on Poland’s 39-man roster announced by Coach Czeslaw Michniewicz ahead of four Nations League matches next month.

Advertisement

Slonina, who turned 18 on Sunday, became Major League Soccer’s youngest starting goalkeeper last Aug. 4 at 17 years, 81 days, in a 0-0 draw against New York City. He started 11 league matches last season, including the final 10, and has started the first 11 this year.

• Chicago Fire midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri is Major League Soccer’s highest-paid player, jumping past Los Angeles FC attacker Carlos Vela.

The 30-year-old Swiss international, who joined Chicago this season from Lyon, has a base salary of $7.35 million and total compensation of $8,153,000, according to figures released by the Major League Soccer Players Association.

He is expected to be passed by Italian winger Lorenzo Insigne, who joins Toronto this summer from Napoli.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Liverpool took the title race with Manchester City to the final round of the season after coming from behind again to beat Southampton 2-1.

Joel Matip completed Liverpool’s latest comeback by unwittingly heading home the winning goal in the 67th minute, leaving Jurgen Klopp’s team a point behind City with one game left for each team.

Advertisement

That’s on Sunday, when Liverpool hosts Wolverhampton at the same time as City is at home to Aston Villa – managed by Liverpool great Steven Gerrard.

PARIS-SAINT GERMAIN: A group fighting homophobia in soccer has called on the French league and Paris Saint-Germain to ask player Idrissa Gueye for an explanation after he missed a game last week amid reports that he refused to play because he did not want to wear a rainbow-colored number on the back of his jersey.

The Senegal midfielder traveled with his teammates to Montpellier last weekend for Saturday’s French league game in the southern city but did not play, with PSG Coach Mauricio Pochettino citing “personal reasons” to justify his absence on the field.

For the second consecutive season, professional clubs in the country had been invited to label their players’ shirts with colored numbers using the rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBTQ movement.

According to a person with direct knowledge of the incident, Gueye did not play because he did not want to wear a rainbow-colored number on the back of his shirt. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the player has not yet commented publicly on the incident.

HIGH SCHOOLS

Advertisement

ENDORSEMENTS: High school principals in Ohio have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to allow prep athletes to sign deals cashing in on their name, image and likeness, the Ohio High School Athletic Association said.

In voting that began May 1 and finished Monday, principals from OHSAA member schools voted 538-254 to not allow the marketing deals for high school athletes. Students would lose their athletic eligibility were they to sign such a deal.

The principals could vote again on the deals at a later date.

LUGE

RETIREMENT: Olympic champion Johannes Ludwig had the best luge season of his life, then decided that would be the perfect way to end his career.

The German veteran announced his retirement from competitive sliding, doing so after winning two gold medals – one in men’s singles, the other in the team relay – at the Beijing Games in February. He also was the overall World Cup champion this past season.

Advertisement

The 36-year-old Ludwig spent three decades competing in luge. He said he will remain connected to the sport as an ambassador for next season’s world championships on his home track in Oberhof, Germany.

CYCLING

GIRO d’IATALIA: It’s been a season of firsts for Biniam Girmay, and the Eritrean rider added a stage victory in the Giro d’Italia in his first Grand Tour to raise the profile of African cycling.

The 22-year-old Girmay outsprinted none other than Mathieu van der Poel – one of the top riders in the sport – to win the 10th stage.

Now he’s the first Black African to win a stage at the Giro, and second African overall after Alan van Heerden won in nearby Pesaro in 1979.

Girmay was then taken to a local hospital after getting injured when he popped a champagne cork into his eye during the podium celebration.

Advertisement

TENNIS

GENEVA OPEN: Second-ranked Daniil Medvedev lost his comeback match after a six-week injury layoff, beaten 6-2, 7-6 (5) by Richard Gasquet in the second round at Geneva.

Medvedev, who underwent hernia surgery last month, cautioned Sunday he was often a slow starter on clay courts. So it proved in his first match on the surface this season, in the last tournament before the French Open.

Medvedev double-faulted for the seventh time on Gasquet’s first match point.

SKIING

WORLD CUP:  The World Cup circuit will be making two more ski racing stops in the United States by adding Alpine events at Palisades Tahoe in California and Aspen, Colorado.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the new competitions, which will join two American stops already on the schedule: Killington, Vermont, and Beaver Creek, Colorado. It’s the most World Cup Alpine stops on American snow in a season since 1996-97.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.