Latest - New Zealand golfer Ryan Fox has finished tied for second at the latest World Tour event in Belgium.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Fox held a one shot lead after the third round, but could only manage an even par 71 in the final round.
He was overtaken by Englishman Sam Horsfield, who won by two shots after firing a three under par 68.
Fox finished tied with Yannik Paul of Germany.
The Aucklander pockets $276,000 and climbs to number six on the World Tour's season rankings.
He will play the US PGA Championship in Oklahoma this week.
Felow New Zealander Josh Geary finished tied for 58th, 15 shots from the winner.
NZ Sail GP struggle again
The New Zealand SailGP team managed a race win but finished sixth verall in the first round of the new season in Bermuda.
New Zealand SailGP Team co-helmed by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Photo: Bob Martin for SailGP
The New Zealanders had a disappointing first day, but won race four this morning.
However a seveth in the fifth race meant they missed out on a place in the final.
Australia carried on where they left off last season winning overall from Great Britain and Canada.
The next round is in Chicago next month.
Cooper fourth at World Cup
New Zealand cross country moutain biker Anton Cooper has finished fourth at the third round of World Cup in the Czech Republic.
The Trek Factory rider and Commonwealth Games silver medallist, rode with a select front bunch including Tokyo Olympic champion Tom Pidcock, teammate Vlad Drascalu and multi world and Olympic champion Nino Schurter.
Drascalu and Pidcock edged clear on the final climb on the last lap with the British rider winning his second World Cup in the sprint finish, with Cooper managing fourth in the sprint finish with Schurter and South African Alan Hatherley.
"It was my best race since Tokyo for sure. When you have a good feeling, it adds fuel to the fire and you can hang in there with the top guys," said Cooper.
"Nothing beats that feeling to be at the point end of a World Cup race in front of 20,000 plus spectators is pretty cool."
King and Coll impress at World Champs
New Zealand squash players Joelle King and Paul Coll have easily moved through to the third round of their respective draws at the World Championships in Cairo.
World No 5 ranked King beat Yathreb Adel of Egypt 3-0, while world number one Coll beat India's Mahesh Mangaonkar 3-0.
In the third round King will face 15th seed Nada Abbas of Egypt, while Coll meets 10th seed Mazem Hesham of Egypt.
Chiefs sneak home against Rebels
The New Zealand sides managed a clean sweep of their opposition in round 13 of Super Rugby Pacific.
Ollie Norrish scores for the Chiefs Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Chiefs completed the weekend with a 33-30 win over the Rebels in Melbourne.
The visitors scored five tries to three after leading 12-10 at the break.
The Blues top the standings with 50 points, the Brumbies and Crusaders have 43, Chiefs 36, Hurricanes and Waratahs 33, Reds 31, Highlanders 22, Rebels 16, Force 14, Fijian Drua 11 and Moana Pasifika 6.
In the feature game next weekend the Brumbies host the Blues.
Black Sticks beaten by Australia
The Black Sticks women have lost the trans-Tasman series after going down 2-1 in the final test in Auckland.
Tayla White Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Going against the run of play the hosts managed to force a penalty corner from which captain Megan Hull duly slotted in with a powerful strike to put the Black Sticks up 1-0.
However the Australians managed to retain dominance over the ball and, despite some plucky defending, leveled the scores with a good play into the circle that resulted in the ball sneaking under goalkeeper Brooke Roberts.
Australia continued to dominate in the second half with Brooke Peris scoring the winner.
Australia won two games, while the other two were drawn.
The men's Trans-Tasman series begins May 31.
The women depart for Europe early June ahead of their World Cup and Commonwealth Games campaigns.
Swiatek and Djokovic win in Rome
Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic have won their respective Italian Open titles in Rome.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
World number one Swiatek retained her title after overwhelming Ons Jabeur 6-2 6-2 clinching her fifth consecutive WTA crown and winning her 28th match in a row.
Having swept the titles in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, Swiatek has now won every WTA 1000 tournament she has contested this season and will be the favourite to add to her 2020 French Open success when the Grand Slam tournament begins next week.
Men's number one Djokovic claimed his first title in over six months after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0 7-6(5).
Djokovic did not drop a set en route to the final in Rome, having picked up his 1,000th tour-level victory by beating Casper Ruud in the semi-final to book a clash with Tsitsipas - a repeat of last year's French Open final, which the Serb won.
It has been the perfect week for the 34-year-old, who became only the fifth man in the Open Era to reach the 1,000 wins milestone after Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Rafa Nadal, ahead of the start of the French Open.
-Reuters
Bastianini wins at Le Mans
Gresini Racing's Enea Bastianini claimed his third win of the MotoGP season with a superb performance at the French Grand Prix as world champion and home favourite Fabio Quartararo came fourth.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Italian Bastianini finished ahead of Ducati's Jack Miller at Le Mans, celebrating another win after victories in Austin and Qatar.
Pole sitter Francesco Bagnaia lost his top spot to team mate Miller on the opening but soon regained the position and held on for 20 laps.
Bastianini, who started fifth, took the lead on the 21st lap after Bagnaia ran off-track at turn eight before crashing out.
Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro was third.
Suzuki, who announced this week that they intend to leave MotoGP at the end of the year, had a bad day as both Alex Rins and 2020 champion Joan Mir crashed and failed to finish the race.
Quartararo retained his lead in the championship, sitting on 102 points, four ahead of Espargaro.
-Reuters
Australian wins stage nine
Australian Jai Hindley of Bora-Hansgrohe came through a packed group of riders to win stage nine of the Giro d'Italia, a gruelling 187-kilometre ride from Isernia to Blockhaus, ahead of 2019 champion Richard Carapaz.
Having negotiated a series of challenging climbs, Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion and home favourite Diego Rosa pulled clear of the peloton with 50 kilometres to go, but a spectacular fall by Tesfatsion descending Passo Lanciano ended his race.
The peloton quickly closed the gap and a large group assembled, led by Ineos Grenadiers, with 15 kilometres to go, as they got their man, Ecuador's Carapaz, into position.
Carapaz was joined by five others in a sprint finish, before Romain Bardet, Carapaz and Hindley crossed the line together, with Hindley punching the air having taken his second Giro stage win ahead of Bardet in second and Carapaz third.
A gutsy ride from Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez, the first rider from his country to hold the pink jersey since Alberto Contador in 2015, enabled him to stay ahead on the general classification.
The Giro takes a break tomorrow, before returning on Tuesday with stage 10 - a 194-kilometre ride from Pescara to Jesi.
-Reuters
Paddon wins again
Top New Zealand rally pairing Hayden Paddon and John Kennard made it two wins from two starts in their Hyundai i20 AP4 rally car at the International Rally of Whangarei, the second round of the 2022 New Zealand Rally Championship.
Photo: HAYDEN PADDON
Paddon and his Cromwell-based Hyundai New Zealand Rally team delivered a near-perfect performance, with a clean sweep of fastest times through all 18 special stages and new stage records set for 14 of them.
Paddon praised his crew for their teamwork and strategy with tyre planning and management throughout the two-day rally. He was also happy with most of the small mechanical tweaks implemented on the Hyundai i20 AP4 car following the season opener in Otago in April, saying there were a couple of readjustments to be made.
The pair are preparing for their return to European rallying for the first time in more than two years. Their first European rally of 2022 has been confirmed as Rally di Alba on 24 and 25 June, a tarmac rally which is part of the Tour European Rally series and the Italian Rally Championship.