Basketball, NBA: Members of the Toronto Raptors locked arms in solidarity during the playing of the Canadian and US national anthems on Saturday, as protests to draw attention to racial inequality spread to the National Basketball Association and into Canada. The gesture added to protests that began during the National Football League pre-season when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick stayed seated during the national anthem. Toronto beat Golden State 97-93. In the other pre-season game, the New Orleans Pelicans topped the visiting Dallas Mavericks 116-102.
Tennis: Tomas Berdych captured his first title of the season when he battled past Richard Gasquet 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-3 to clinch the Shenzhen Open for the second successive year yesterday. The victory boosted hopes of a seventh consecutive ATP World Tour final appearance for Berdych, who is currently ninth in the race, just outside the eight qualifying spots for London. “Five weeks ago I was in hospital, now I’m sitting here with the trophy. Things are changing very quickly,” Berdych said.
Motorcycling: Ducati’s Chaz Davies completed the fifth Superbike World Championship double of his career with victory in race two at Magny-Cours. The Welshman finished ahead of Honda’s Michael van der Mark and Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes on Saturday and maintained his form yesterday to come home 2.09 seconds clear of Jonathan Rea in second, with Tom Sykes third. Rea now leads Kawasaki team-mate Sykes by 48 points and can claim the title in the penultimate round 12 at Jerez.
Cricket: A century from stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis lifted South Africa to a huge 142-run win over Australia and a 2-0 lead in the five-match one-day international series at The Wanderers. Du Plessis plundered 111 from 93 balls as South African posted a commanding 361 for six in their 50 overs having been asked to bat by Australia. The tourists lost regular wickets on a good batting track and were all out for 219 in the 38th over as the home side recorded their second biggest ODI win over Australia by runs, eclipsed only by a 196-run victory a decade ago in Cape Town.