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Wrestling: High school athlete Mack Beggs (picture) and many of his opponents want him to wrestle against boys, but the transgender boy on Friday wrestled in a Texas championship for girls because of state sport regulations on gender. Beggs, 17, is transitioning from girl to boy, and the governing body for Texas school athletics has required him to compete by his birth gender, which is female. The wrestler at Trinity High School in Dallas had a 52-0 record ahead of the tournament.
Snooker: Defending champion Robin Hull crashed out of the Coral Shoot Out with a second-round defeat to Fergal O’Brien as the competition became a ranking event for the first time at Watford Colosseum. Hull had moved past China’s Mei Xi Wen first to set up a showdown against Ireland’s O’Brien but the Finn suffered a 25-18 loss. World number two Stuart Bingham also suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Pakistan’s Hamza Akbar, while Jimmy White came up against tough opposition before claiming a hard-fought 45-44 victory over China’s Chen Zhe.
Cricket: Spinner Steve O’Keefe finished with 12 wickets as Australia ended India’s 19-Test unbeaten streak with a crushing 333-run triumph within three days in Pune, yesterday. O’Keefe, 32, followed up his first-innings six for 35 with identical figures in the second as the hosts were skittled for 107. Fellow spinner Nathan Lyon snared the other four wickets. Australia captain Steve Smith had earlier posted his 18th Test hundred – his first in India – to help his team pull away to 285, setting the home team a daunting victory target of 441. The result, in the first Test of a four-match series, was Australia’s first win on Indian soil since 2004.
Golf: Rory McIlroy said his outing last week with President Donald Trump was not a political endorsement of America’s new leader but rather “simply a round of golf.” The decision by the Northern Irish golfer to accept the invitation to play with the president in Florida has come under fire on social media by some who saw it as approval of Trump and his policies. “To be called a fascist and a bigot by some people because I spent time in someone’s company is just ridiculous,” McIlroy said. “This wasn’t an endorsement nor a political statement of any kind. It was quite simply a round of golf.”
Winter Sport: Germany’s Jacqueline Loelling claimed her first skeleton World Championship gold by sliding to victory on her home track in Konigssee yesterday. Leading going into the third and final run, the World Cup leader produced a nerveless slide to stay in front of compatriot and defending champion Tina Hermann. Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold, of Britain, moved up into the bronze-medal position after two strong runs yesterday. European champion Loelling, 21, will lead a strong German assault on the medals at next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Alpine Skiing: American former Olympic downhill champion Lindsey Vonn suffered a crash in yesterday’s super-G World Cup race in the Swiss resort of Crans Montana but escaped serious injury. The 32-year-old, who broke her right arm at the start of the season and still does not have full use of her hand, lost control early in her run and crashed into the safety netting. After a worrying moment when Vonn sat still in the netting, she got to her feet in no obvious discomfort. Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec won the race as several other leading contenders failed to reach the finish as the soft snow conditions again proved tricky.