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Darts: Michael van Gerwen (picture, right) showed some of his sparkling best form as he reached the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship with a 4-1 victory over Darren Webster at Alexandra Palace. Starting at a frantic pace, Webster nearly took the opening set with two darts at doubles, but he failed to convert. The Dutchman duly obliged before hitting 88, double 20 and 62 to seal the last three legs with the score 3-1 in his favour, thus confirming his place in the last eight. Phil Taylor fought off a mini revival from Kim Huybrechts to secure a 4-2 success over the 13th seed.
Cycling: Ferdinand “Ferdy” Kuebler, the first Swiss cyclist to win the Tour de France, died on Thursday in a Zurich hospital at the age of 97 following a brief illness, the Swiss Cycling federation said on its website, yesterday. Kuebler was 31 in 1950 when he won that year’s 4,690 kilometre edition of the Tour de France. A year later, he won the World Championship race in Varese, Italy. Although he claimed victory in the Tour of Switzerland three times, it took him a decade as a professional before he won the sport’s most prestigious race.
American Football: Rashaan Salaam, a winner of college football’s Heisman Trophy, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in a park in Boulder, Colorado, earlier this month, a county coroner told reporters yesterday. A detailed toxicology report showed Salaam, 42, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.25, three times the legal limit for operating a vehicle in Colorado. His blood also contained 55 nanograms of THC, the psychoactive property of marijuana. Salaam won the Heisman Trophy, college football’s highest honour, as a University of Colorado running back in 1994, becoming the only player from that school todo so.
Basket, NBA: Kyrie Irving scored 32 points to allow Cleveland Cavaliers to hold on for a 124-118 victory against Boston Celtics. The Cavaliers nearly blew an 18-point lead entering the fourth. A driving basket by Isaiah Thomas pulled Boston within 117-116 with about a minute left before Irving countered with a drive of his own. Thomas was then fouled on the Celtics’ next possession and sank both free-throws as Irving, grabbing at his right hamstring on his way off the floor, was subbed out of the game with 47 seconds left.
Tennis: Andy Murray ended a triumphant 2016 in defeat, beaten for the first time by David Goffin in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, yesterday. The 7-6 6-4 loss in the last four of the low-key year-ending exhibition will hardly worry the Scot, who ends the year at world number one having won the Wimbledon, Olympic and ATP World Tour Finals. Murray is a two-time winner of the MWTC but will not be fighting for a third title on New Year’s Eve after being edged out by his Belgian opponent, who had never before taken a set off the Scot.