SUNDAY, JULY 10, 2016 SPORTS Croatia, Puerto Rico win in Olympic basketball qualifiers RIO DE JANEIRO: Italy and Serbia Republic 96-72. The Serbians, who won scored 20 points and Croatia shut down Croatia, which it beat 67-60 in group onds remaining. Backcourt mate J.J. cruised into the championship games of a silver medal two years ago in the Greece star Giannis Antetokounmpo in play. Francisco Cruz scored 20 points for Barea of the Dallas Mavericks also fin- Olympic Qualifying Tournaments on Basketball World Cup, will host Puerto the first semifinal. Dario Saric, a former lot- Mexico, which played the tournament ished with 14 points. Jannis Timma led Friday, moving a win away from a place Rico on Saturday in Belgrade. tery pick of the Philadelphia 76ers, added without top big man Gustavo Ayon. Latvia with 16 points. in the basketball field in Rio. Danilo The three qualifying tournaments are 16 points and eight rebounds. Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets scored determining the final three spots in the Antetokounmpo, the rising Milwaukee BELGRADE, SERBIA SERBIA 96, CZECH REPUBLIC 72 15 points as the Italians beat Mexico 79- Olympics. The semifinals in Manila, Bucks star, was held to nine points. He PUERTO RICO 77, LATVIA 70 Milos Teodosic scored 14 of his 16 54 in Turin. They will face Croatia, which Philippines, are Saturday, when France missed all seven 3-point attempts and fin- Renaldo Balkman had a tiebreaking points in the third quarter, helping knocked off Greece, in Saturday’s final. meets Turkey and Canada plays New ished 3 for 14 from the field. follow shot with 1:08 left as the Puerto Serbia outscore the Czechs 51-36 in the Italy hasn’t reached the Olympics Zealand. Ricans ousted previously unbeaten second half. The star guard added six since winning a silver medal in 2004. A look at Friday’s four games: ITALY 79, MEXICO 54 Latvia. assists and three steals as Serbia shot Bogdan Bogdanovic had 21 points and Nicolo Melli scored 14 points for the John Holland scored 15 points and nearly 55 percent. Tomas Satoransky had eight rebounds, Denver Nuggets center TURIN, ITALY Italians, who got 12 from Marco Belinelli, former NBA guard Carlos Arroyo had 14 14 points, seven rebounds and seven Nikola Jokic added 19 points and eight CROATIA 66, GREECE 61 recently traded to the Charlotte Hornets. for Puerto Rico, making a 3-pointer that assists for the Czech Republic. Jan Vesely boards, and Serbia routed the Czech Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets Italy’s victory set up a rematch with provided a five-point lead with 35 sec- chipped in 12 points. —AP Crusaders crush Rebels 85-26 in 13-try rout WELLINGTON: The Canterbury Crusaders Kieran Read, set the tone when he scored produced a Super Rugby 13-try spectacu- the opening try after 90 seconds. lar, including a Johnny McNicholl hat-trick, “We weren’t happy after last week and to thrash an understaffed Melbourne we wanted to start well and the boys did Rebels 85-26 in Christchurch yesterday. that, spot on,” Whitelock said. The lop-sided encounter kept the seven- Although the Rebels ranks were deci- time champions one point behind the mated by injury and flanker Colby Fainga’a Waikato Chiefs who also collected maxi- was converted into a back to plug a hole in mum points when they whipped the the second half, captain Nic Stirzaker made Queensland Reds 50-5 on Friday and no excuses. ensured the New Zealand conference will “It was a pretty rotten start, a charge go down to the wire. down and a try early and then it was tough Had Richie Mo’unga been at his kicking to stop the rot once it set in. We were pretty best the Crusaders would have been nudg- dreadful and they were exceptional,” he ing 50 points by half-time as they scored said. In addition to McNicholl’s triple, Ryan seven tries in the first 40 minutes to turn Crotty and Codie Taylor both scored two with a 43-7 lead over the injury hit Rebels. tries, while Whitelock, Scott Barrett, Alex They added a further six tries in the second Hodgman, Nemani Nadolo, Pete Samu and half and were threatening competition Matt Todd also crossed the line. records until their relentless scoring pace Mo’unga landed seven conversions and tapered off in the final quarter. Nadolo two. scored the Rebels only try in The Crusaders set the record for the the first half with Reece Hodge, Culum highest score in Super Rugby when they Retallick and Sefa Naivalu scoring after the beat the NSW Waratahs 96-19 in 2002. They break. Jack Debreczeni landed three con- scored a record 14 tries in that match which versions. was equalled by the Central Cheetahs earli- The Crusaders finish off the regular sea- er this year when they beat the Sunwolves son next Saturday hosting the Wellington 92-17. Stung by their loss to the Chiefs last Hurricanes in a rare afternoon match and week, and losing their place at the top of just ahead of the Chiefs’ clash in Dunedin the ladder, the Crusaders were determined against the defending champion Otago BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON: Britain’s Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the eighth stage of to make amends as they thrived on auda- Highlanders. the Tour de France cycling race over 184 kilometers (114.3 miles) with start in Pau and finish in Bagneres-de-Luchon, France, yesterday. — AP cious offloads against a brittle defence. The Rebels, who are well out of con- Sam Whitelock, in his 100th Super game tention in the Australian conference, play and captaining the side in the absence of the Queensland Reds on Friday. —AFP Froome seizes yellow Classics to blame for Belgium’s Tour drought jersey with solo win BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON: Reigning champion followed by Martin as the peloton broke up diately darted clear on the descent. The LAC DE PAYOLLE: Only the host nation has old. “Classics in Belgium are so big that Chris Froome gave a demonstration of his ver- with few riders able to hang on. chasers seemed to look to each other for direc- produced more Tour de France winners everybody is watching this.” Anyone who’s satility in riding away on a fast descent to take Frenchman Romain Bardet and Quintana tion and the Briton was away to win a fifth than Belgium but the northern neighbour been on the route of the Tour of Flanders the yellow jersey at the Tour de France yester- both accelerated but neither showed any great stage in eight for his nation. Stephen has now gone 40 years without victory. would attest to that — it is THE sporting day. Renowned for his blistering attacks on commitment to attack. Cummings won Friday’s stage while Mark Eddy Merckx is considered by many to appointment of the year in Belgium. steep climbs, the Briton stunned his Tour rivals A group of just 14 riders went over the top Cavendish has a hat-trick of sprint stage victo- be the greatest cyclist of all time and his by going clear on a speedy descent to the finish together with 16km to ride and Froome imme- ries. —AFP mark of five Tour victories has been ‘HARD TO DEVELOP’ of the 184km eighth stage from Pau to matched only by Frenchmen Bernard What makes a good classics rider is not Bagneres de Luchon in the Pyrenees. He Hinault and Jacques Anquetil. the same as the proficiency needed to win caught everyone by surprise, commentators Yet since Merckx claimed his fifth crown a Grand Tour. and fans included, with a curious technique in 1974, only Lucien Van Impe, two years Classics riders tend to be big and pow- where he slipped off his saddle and onto the Button needs a later, has managed to bring Tour glory to erful, particularly those who ride the cob- bike’s central bar to gain aerodynamic benefits, Belgium. Ten different Belgians have bles, while a Tour winner needs to be a yet still managing to pedal furiously. No-one in shared 18 Tour wins between them and yet good climber. Good climbers will struggle a select group of 13 challengers reacted quickly it is decades since one last looked capable to make their mark in the junior ranks in competitive car enough and Froome opened up a 13 second of claiming the greatest prize in cycling. Belgium, where there are no races suited to gap by the finish. Ireland’s Dan Martin won the Jurgen Van den Broeck finished third in their capabilities, consequently harming sprint for second from Joaquim Rodriguez of 2010 and fourth in 2012, but that doesn’t their chances of ever making a career in Spain. Froome now leads by 16sec overall from to stay in F1 tell the full story. cycling. “Firstly, we don’t have big moun- young Briton Adam Yates and Rodriguez, while He originally came fifth in 2010 but two tains in Belgium,” added Van Avermaet. “If previous yellow jersey holder Greg Van riders who finished above him-Alberto you do a lot of classics racing when you’re Avermaet finished a long way back. SILVERSTONE: Britain’s Jenson Button, the be a good place to be, or somewhere else is a Contador and Denis Menchov-were subse- young, you race like a sprinter. “It wasn’t really planned. I thought I’d give it most experienced driver on the Formula One good place to be, and I can challenge for quently banned for doping and stripped of “It’s hard to develop like a climber-if you a try in the downhill as the few tries on the starting grid, says he needs a competitive car podiums or victories and I will stay.