Figure Skating: Igor Pashkevich, who won a silver medal at the 1996 European Figure Skating Championships, has died in Miami aged 44, the Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR) said. The cause of death was unknown. Pashkevich, who was also the 1990 World Junior Champion, had lived and worked as a coach in the United States in recent years. “The FSFR would like to offer its condolences to family and friends close to Igor Pashkevich,” the FSFR said in a statement yesterday.

Cycling: Eritrea’s Mekseb Debesay will not forget his first WorldTour race after getting lost on Belgium’s back roads and being rescued by a good Samaritan who offered him food and a shower on Saturday. Debesay, who rides for African-based Dimension Data, got lost while riding the 206km E3 Harelbeke, the first cobblestone classic of the year, finally arriving back at the team hotel 15 hours after setting out and covering 240km. “It’s an amazing story,” team sports director Pierre Heynderickx said. “He fell behind and decided to follow the course arrows to get to the finish. Unfortunately, he wandered from the correct path.”

Golf: Australian Jason Day will replace Jordan Spieth as world number one this week after advancing to a mouth-watering WGC-Dell Match Play semi-final against Rory McIlroy, while the Texan was beaten in the last 16 by Louis Oosthuizen. Day, who has been bothered by a back problem, beat Brandt Snedeker 3&2 in the last 16 and then Brooks Koepka in the quarter-final by the same score at Austin Country Club. Northern Irishman McIlroy, the defending champion, followed a one-up win over British Open winner Zach Johnson by defeating Chris Kirk 4&3 to set up the first ever match play encounter between the pair.

Basket, NBA: Quietly and efficiently, Atlanta Hawks keep piling up victories. The team that headed into the Eastern Conference play-offs last season as the top seed could be this season’s darkhorse. Paul Millsap had 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Hawks snapped Detroit Pistons’ five-game winning streak with a 112-95 victory at The Palace. Atlanta, who had eight players in double figures, won for the 13th time in their last 16 games.

Rowing: Favourites Cambridge won the annual University Boat Race in choppy conditions on London’s River Thames yesterday, extending their lead over Oxford in the long-standing series to 82-79. Their more- experienced crew was in front from the start and finished comfortable winners to end a run of three successive defeats. As usual in an Olympic year, both crews were under strength, with leading rowers preparing for Rio instead, although Cambridge still fielded four Americans, one German-American and one Austrian in their eight.