RUGBY LEAGUE: Brisbane Broncos forward Adam Blair (picture) has been appointed as New Zealand’s new captain for the 2017 World Cup. The 30-year-old prop was unveiled by Kiwis head coach David Kidwell at a press conference in Auckland as the successor to Jesse Bromwich, who was forced to step down after being caught up in a drugs scandal. “Adam’s vision and rugby league intelligence has been proven time and time again,” Kidwell said. The Whangarei-born Blair won the first of his 41 caps in 2006 and was in the 2008 World Cup winning team.

BASEBALL: Jim Bunning, who showed much of the same combativeness as a US congressman as he had during his Hall of Fame career as a deceptive pitcher in baseball’s major leagues, died at the age of 85, his son said yesterday. Bunning became the first Hall of Famer to serve in the US Congress, representing Kentucky in the Senate and a Cincinnati-area district in the House of Representatives.

SAILING: Oracle Team USA got off to a flying start on the first day of the America’s Cup in Bermuda, comfortably beating Groupama Team France and then coming from behind in their second race with a narrow victory over Emirates TNZ. After spending years designing and building their 50-foot (15 metre) foiling catamarans, all six crews competing for the 35th America’s Cup were in action and racing was as hotly contested as the sailors had predicted. Conditions in Bermuda’s Great Sound were near perfect for the head-to-head “match racing”, with winds of 10-12 knots.

RUGBY UNION: Australia forward Sean McMahon’s hopes of shining in Wallabies gold next month have been ended after he dislocated his wrist in Super Rugby action for the Melbourne Rebels on Saturday. The openside flanker had been hoping to benefit from the absence of David Pocock, who is on a year-long sabbatical, to get some test game-time as backup to Michael Hooper when Australia host Fiji, Scotland and Italy in June.

BADMINTON: South Korea stunned China to win the Sudirman Cup yesterday, coming from 2-1 down to clinch the final 3-2 on Australia’s Gold Coast and end their opponents’ 12-year stranglehold on the biennial mixed team international tournament. Choi Sol-gyu and Chae Yoo-Jung were mobbed by their team-mates after combining for a 21-17 21-13 victory over Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong in the mixed doubles to secure the victory, which gave the Koreans their fourth title, a first since 2003. China had won all five titles since then.

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