Winter Olympics: The torch relay for next year’s Winter Olympics will begin in South Korea in November and travel 2,018 kilometres around the country before arriving in Pyeongchang to mark the start of the February 9-25 Games, organisers said yesterday. The flame will be lit in Olympia, Greece on October 24 before coming to Korea for the domestic relay. It would then be taken through 17 cities and provinces by 7,500 torchbearers, beginning on November 1 – the 100-day countdown to the Games, POCOG said in a statement. The identity of the final torchbearer has not been revealed yet.
Tennis: American Steve Johnson literally limped to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5(5) victory over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in the final of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston on Sunday. Johnson, suffering a cramp in his left leg, could hardly move at times late in the third set, hobbling on some points and not even chasing down balls on others. But the world number 29 prevailed in the final set tiebreak, clinching the win with a forehand groundstroke down the line for his second ATP victory.
Boston Marathon: Geoffrey Kirui and Edna Kiplagat produced a Kenyan sweep at the Boston Marathon, winning the men’s and women’s races yesterday by conquering the race’s hilly final miles to establish their dominance. Kirui finished with an official time of two hours nine minutes and 37 seconds after holding off a challenge by American Galen Rupp in the race’s final stretch down Boylston Street, the site of the deadly 2013 bombing attack. Kiplagat ran alone for the final miles of the race, finishing with an official time of 2:21:52, almost a minute ahead of Bahrain’s Rose Chelimo.
Basketball, NBA: Jimmy Butler contributed 30 points and nine rebounds as the Chicago Bulls stunned Eastern Conference top seeds the Boston Celtics in their opening play-off game on an emotional night for Isaiah Thomas. Thomas’ sister Chyna was killed in a car accident on Saturday but her brother led the scoring for the Celtics with 33 points. However, Chicago surged clear with four minutes remaining - Butler nailing three free throws to make it 95-88 – and the Bulls clung on for a 106-102 victory.
Motor Racing: Formula 4 driver Billy Monger was airlifted to hospital with leg injuries after being involved in a high-speed crash at Donington Park when his car ploughed into the back of another. The 17-year-old’s Carlin car crashed into the back of the JHR Developments car of Patrik Pasma, which appeared to have stopped on the track.