Cricket: Darren Sammy’s West Indies were crowned the new World Twenty20 champions yesterday after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in a dramatic final in Colombo. The West Indies, restricted to 137-6 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl Sri Lanka out for 101 and silence a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the Premadasa stadium that included President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Chicago Marathon: Tsegaye Kebede became the first man from Ethiopia to win the Chicago Marathon, cap-turing yesterday’s 35th edition of the race with a last-mile surge to defeat countryman Feyisa Lilesa. Kebede broke a run of nine men’s wins in a row at Chicago by Kenyans in a course record time of 2 hrs, 4 mins, 38 secs to defeat Lilesa by 14 seconds with Ethiopia’s Tilahun Regassa third in 2:05:26 in his marathon debut. Ethiopia’s Atsede Baysa edged Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo at the finish line to win the women’s title as Russian Liliya Shobukhova failed to claim her fourth win in a row.

Rugby Union: Laser beams were aimed at Australian place kickers Mike Harris and Kurtley Beale during a gutsy 25-19 triumph over Argentina in Rosario in the climax of the Rugby Championship season last weekend. Replays of the build-up to some kicks at goal showed red and green lasers aimed at the Wallabies in an effort to distract them, but makeshift full-back Harris succeeded with seven of eight shots at goal for a 20-point haul.

Rallying: Sebastien Loeb was crowned world rally champion for a record ninth successive time with two legs of the season still to come yesterday. Loeb clinched the title with victory in the Rally of France, leaving him with an unassailable lead in the overall standings. There was double joy for his team Citroen who claimed the constructors title for the eighth time. Loeb’s win in Haguenau, Alsace, pushed him up to 244 points in the drivers’ title race with his team-mate, Mikko Hirvonen who finished third, on 173 points and out of contention for the title with rallies in Italy and Spain remaining.