Handball: Several Montpellier handball players have been arrested after an investigation into an alleged match-fixing scandal, a police source said yesterday. The source, who declined to be identified, said the players had been arrested after Montpellier’s league game at Paris St Germain. They were expected to be trans-ferred to the Paris suburb of Nanterre for questioning by police. A judicial source said last week that French champions Montpellier were involved in an investigation relating to a first division match they lost at Cesson-Sevinge on May 12.
Boxing: Russia’s Alexander Povetkin retained his WBA world heavyweight title with a second-round stoppage of former world champion Hasim Rahman, of the US. Povetkin, 33, extended his undefeated record to 25 fights with 18 victories coming inside the distance. The 39-year-old Rahman fell to his eighth career defeat against 41 wins and two draws. Povetkin defeated Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Chagaev in 2008 to win the WBA belt and had already defended it with wins over Cedric Boswell and Marco Huck before Saturday’s comfortable win.
Tennis: Richard Gasquet snapped a title drought stretching back two-and-a-half years as he beat close friend Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-1 in an all-French final yesterday at the Thailand Open. The 67-minute victory came partly because Simon fell victim to a knee problem. He cut a hugely despondent figure afterwards. Gasquet, 26, last tasted title success on clay in Nice in May 2010, and had lost three finals since then, including Estoril and Toronto this season.
Berlin marathon: Favourite Geoffrey Mutai, of Kenya, won the Berlin marathon yesterday, surviving a brave challenge by compatriot Dennis Kimetto but failing in his quest to set a new world record. Mutai’s time was more than half-a-minute off Patrick Makau’s world record of 2:03.38 set in the German capital last year. Mutai ran the fastest marathon in Boston last year but was not recognised because of the course’s nature.
Rugby Union: New Zealand ran in seven tries to crush Argentina 54-15 late Saturday and win the inaugural Rugby Championship title with a game to spare. The world champions recovered from conceding an early try to score four and build a 32-8 half-time advantage at a packed Estadio Ciudad de La Plata. Winning with a bonus point lifted New Zealand to 21 points followed by South Africa (12), Australia (eight) and Argentina (three) with the final fixtures scheduled for next weekend.