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Cricket: India captain Virat Kohli (picture) struck a sublime double century before his bowlers picked up six England wickets to put the hosts on course for a series-clinching victory in the fourth and penultimate test at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. India piled on 631 in their first innings on the fourth day, a lead of 231 runs over England, after Kohli’s third double century of the year. The touring side were 182 for six in their second innings at stumps, still trailing by 49. Jonny Bairstow was unbeaten on 50 with nightwatchman Jake Ball falling for two in the last over before the close.
Golf: Australian journeyman Sam Brazel prevailed in a tense final hole shoot-out with runnerup Rafa Cabrera Bello to win the Hong Kong Open by a stroke and capture his first European Tour title yesterday. The 480th-ranked Brazel struck a sublime approach shot from 175 yards to within eight feet of the flag and calmly rolled in the winning birdie after his Spanish rival missed a longer putt by inches on a glorious afternoon at Fanling. Doused with champagne and mobbed by his caddy and friends, Brazel’s victory in the co-sanctioned event earned the 37-year-old €311,844 and a two-year exemption on the Tour.
Basketball, NBA: LeBron James’ best points-scoring performance of the season led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a fourth NBA win on the bounce on Saturday. The All-Star scored 44 points, including a run of 13 in a row, as the Cavs defeated the Charlotte Hornets 116-105. The Golden State Warriors were beaten for just the fourth time this term as Memphis’ fine form continued. The Grizzlies, led by 19 points for Marc Gasol, triumphed 110-89 for their sixth win on the spin.
Boxing: Dillian Whyte clinched a split decision victory over Dereck Chisora in their heavyweight grudge match at the Manchester Arena. Whyte secured verdicts of 115-114 and 115-113 on two cards while Chisora edged the third by a point after a close and explosive contest. Chisora was fighting under the threat of a two-year ban after hurling a press conference table in the acrimonious pre-fight build-up and the fight itself threatened to be anti-climactic. But instead the pair captured the imagination of the 21,000 capacity crowd in a contest with ebbed and flowed with each fighter appearing on the verge of being stopped at numerous points.
Taekwondo: Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden built on their Rio successes by both claiming gold medals at the World Grand Prix finals in Baku on Saturday night. Double Olympic champion Jones completed another near-perfect year by outpointing Egypt’s Hedaya Malak 7-0 to claim the women’s -57kg crown. And Walkden, who was edged into silver in Brazil, reached the top of the podium again with victory over Zheng Shuyin of China at +67kg. Jones said: “People don’t realise how hard it is to come back from an Olympics and fight again. It can be an anti-climax so I’m really pleased to get gold because I couldn’t do that after London.”