TRACK AND FIELD
In her first competition in nearly two years, Kate Hall-Harnden finished sixth in the long jump at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday in New York.
Hall-Harnden, a Buxton resident and native of Casco, had a best jump of 20-feet, 4 1/2-inches. Lorraine Ugen won with a jump of 22-0 1/4.
Hall-Harnden has been out of competition since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee on Jan. 28, 2021.
Quanesha Burks was second Sunday with a jump of 21-10, while Kendall Williams was third in 21-3 1/4.
BASKETBALL
NBA G-LEAGUE: Nik Stauskas scored 30 points and the Grand Rapids Gold beat the Maine Celtics 111-97 at the Portland Expo.
Marcus Burk added 18 points for Grand Rapids, who also beat Maine on Friday night, 116-108.
The Celtics rallied to tie the game at 76-76 on two foul shots by Chris Clemons with 11:07 left in the fourth quarter, before Burk hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Gold pull away.
Sam Hauser scored 30 points for Maine, while Denzel Valentine had nine points, 12 rebounds and six asssists.
GOLF
ASIAN TOUR: Harold Varner III holed a 90-foot putt for eagle on the final hole in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, to go from one shot behind to a stunning victory in the Saudi International.
Varner finished with a 1-under 69 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club for his second victory worldwide. This was an Asian Tour event; and Varner previously won the Australia PGA.
Varner faced a tough task to even two-putt for birdie and force a playoff with Bubba Watson. He did one better, a putt that went from one end of the 18th green to the other. Varner threw his putter to the ground and pumped his arms to celebrate.
Varner finished at 13-under 267. He won $1 million from the $5 million prize fund, along with whatever appearance money he received from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that attracted 21 of the top 50 players in the world.
SOCCER
FA CUP: Teenager Harvey Elliott returned from five months out injured and scored his first Liverpool goal in a 3-1 victory over Cardiff in the FA Cup.
Elliott produced a brilliant swivelled finish in front of the Kop in the 76th minute for Liverpool’s third goal, capping the 18-year-old midfielder’s recovery from a left ankle fracture dislocation.
• Nottingham Forest will go into the fifth round after ousting Leicester 4-1, having previously eliminated 14-time winner Arsenal.
It’s an incredible cup run for second-tier Forest, reviving memories of its prowess in the last century before being relegated from the Premier League in 1999.
Forest stunned Leicester by scoring twice inside 90 seconds through Philip Zinckernagel and Brennan Johnson to take a 2-0 lead by the 24th minute.
BUNDESLIGA: The injured Erling Haaland watched as his Borussia Dortmund teammates were outclassed and outgunned in a humiliating 5-2 loss at home to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
• Wolfsburg ended its 11-game winless streak across all competitions with a 4-1 victory over last-place Greuther Fürth.
SPANISH LEAGUE: Barcelona showed why it shouldn’t be discarded just yet as a threat in Spanish soccer.
With quality and passion, the Catalan club beat Atlético Madrid 4-2 in the Spanish league to end a five-game winless run against Diego Simeone’s team and move back into the Champions League qualification places for the first time since the third round.
• Valencia’s winless streak in the league reached five straight games after it was held by Real Sociedad to a 0-0 draw.
TENNIS
RETIREMENT: Juan Martín del Potro, who won the 2009 U.S. Open, says he is likely to retire from professional tennis after playing tournaments in Buenos Aires this week and then in Rio de Janeiro.
Del Potro’s career has been marred by injury and he has been off the circuit since 2019. He faces fellow Argentine Federico Delbonis on Tuesday in the Argentine capital.
Once ranked as high as No. 3 in the world, del Potro said Saturday with tears in his eyes that he was in a difficult moment and knew people were expecting him to return to tennis.
OPEN SUD DE FRANCE: Alexander Bublik upset the odds by beating third-ranked Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 in the final in Montpellier, France, for his first career title.
In doing so the 24-year-old Kazakhstani stopped the 2020 U.S. Open runner-up Zverev from winning his 20th career title.
Bublik had lost his four previous finals but proved too strong.
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