Sports Digest: U.S. opens women’s world hockey championships with 3-0 win

U.S. goalie Alex Cavallini dives for the puck through the second interval of an IIHF girls’s hockey championships sport in opposition to Switzerland in Calgary, Alberta. The People received, 3-0. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press through AP

HOCKEY

WOMEN’S WORLDS: Brianna Decker and Kendall Coyne Schofield every had a objective and an help and the nine-time champion United States beat Switzerland 3-0 late Friday evening in Calgary, Alberta to open the ladies’s world hockey championship.

The match started with the Beijing Olympics lower than six months away. The world championship was final performed in 2019 in Finland, with the US successful its fifth straight title. The pandemic twice compelled the cancellation of the occasion in Nova Scotia.

Grace Zumwinkle additionally scored for the US and Alex Cavallini made 10 saves. Andrea Braendli stopped 55 pictures for Switzerland.

“I believed it was a terrific sport and we’re actually excited concerning the consequence, but in addition in how we performed as a workforce” U.S. Coach Joel Johnson stated. “It simply felt actually good to get out and play. The Swiss have a terrific workforce and performed us powerful, however it actually speaks to how aggressive the sport has develop into all around the world.”

Earlier within the first Group A sport, Sarah Fillier broke a tie halfway by the third interval and Canada rallied to beat Finland 5-3. Within the lone Group B sport of the day, Alena Mills had three objectives and an help within the Czech Republic’s 6-1 victory over Denmark.

All 5 groups in Group A and the highest three in Group B will advance to the quarterfinals. The US will face Finland on Sunday evening.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Fabio Jakobsen sprinted to win the Spanish Vuelta’s eighth stage on Saturday in La Manga del Mar Menor, Spain, whereas Primoz Roglic saved the lead earlier than the race returns to the mountains.

The Dutch sprinter was launched by a Deceuninck-Quickstep teammate and crossed nearly a whole bike size forward of Alberto Dainese. Jakobsen additionally received stage 4 at this version of the race, in addition to two levels within the 2019 Vuelta. Jakobsen was intently adopted by the remainder of the peloton because it completed the 173-kilometer (107-mile) flat trek from Santa Pola to La Manga del Mar Menor, a slim finger of land separating a salt water lagoon from the Mediterranean Sea that’s common amongst vacationers.

A breakaway group opened up a spot of over three minutes early on the flat experience down Spain’s southeast coast, however the Astana workforce led the peloton again to reel them in with round 40 kilometers left. Roglic was unchallenged because the race chief on the route made for groups trying to find a stage win.

The race is again within the mountains on Sunday with a 188-kilometer (116-mile) experience from Puerto Lumbreras to a summit end atop the beyond-category Alto de Velefique.

• Alejandro Valverde has undergone surgical procedure on his collarbone that he broke throughout a crash that knocked him out of the Spanish Vuelta, his Movistar workforce stated Saturday. The 41-year-old Valverde crashed on a descent throughout Friday’s seventh stage of the Grand Tour. He fell onerous on his proper shoulder earlier than sliding off the street. He tried to proceed however minutes later withdrew from the race.

OLYMPICS

MEDALIST HONORED: Turkmenistan lauded its first Olympic medal winner at a lavish ceremony on Saturday the place she was showered with presents. Weightlifter Polina Guryeva, 21, lifted a complete 217 kilograms within the 59-kilogram class to win silver on the Tokyo Video games. It was the primary Olympic medal for the gas-rich Central Asian nation because it received independence within the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who’s a fan of sports activities, has introduced Guryeva with an residence, a luxurious sports activities utility automobile and $50,000 in money.

Berdymukhamedov’s son, Serdar, who was just lately promoted to deputy prime minister accountable for financial and monetary points, handed over the presents to the weightlifter through the ceremony within the capital of Ashgabat.

He learn the president’s handle, saying that Guryeva’s medal helped “enhance glory, status and authority of the sovereign homeland” and was a “supply of immense pleasure for your complete folks.”

Associated Tales