An Australian is the new welterweight champion of the world and the NBL Finals have reached a conclusive game five in this weekends sports round-up.
Tszyu claims interim welterweight title
Australian boxer Tim Tszyu has beaten American Tony Harrison via technical knockout to claim the interim WBO super welterweight belt.
Tszyu dropped Harrison during the ninth round landing heavy blows to the head and body in front of a lively crowd at the Sydney SuperDome.
The fight was close through eight rounds but the barrage of punches to Harrison gave the referee no option but to stop the fight.
It leaves Tszyu 22-0-0 with 16 knockouts to his record and a future fight with division king Jermell Charlo up next.
Breakers defeat Kings to force game five in championship decider
In the NBL, the New Zealand Breakers have forced a final game five against the Sydney Kings to decide the NBL champions for the 2022/23 season.
The Breakers conjured up a 26-18 final quarter against the Kings to win 80-70 and force a game seven on Wednesday.
Breakers forward Jarrell Brantley led the points total with 23 and was well supported with teammate Barry Brown Jnr coming off the bench with 20 points.
2023 NBL MVP Xavier Cooks was quiet for the Kings scoring 10 points as teammate Derrick Walton led the team with 18 points.
India take control in fourth test thanks to Kohli masterclass
Indian test captain Virat Kohli has returned from scoring 186 off 364 balls to help lead India to 571 all out at the end of day four.
It was Kohli’s first century in 1,206 days and was his second slowest by balls faced in his career. He was helped by teammate Shubman Gill who got India off and running to start their innings posting a 128.
Australia’s bowling struggled to worry the home side but Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy did share three wickets each.
It leaves India with a lead of 88 after Australian opener Usman Khawaja was forced to miss due to injury, leaving Matt Kuhnemann to open the batting with Travis head.
It seems inevitable the test will end with a draw on the final day unless Australia’s batsmen collapse in a similar way as they did in the third test.
Australia defeated by Japan in World Baseball Classic
Australia’s baseball men have been brought back down to Earth suffering a crushing 7-1 loss to hosts Japan at the Tokyo Dome.
Japan’s MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani essentially sealed victory in the first innings crushing away a three run home run landing 136 metres away.
Australia started the tournament well, defeating Korea and China in their earlier games but the large defeat to Japan put their hopes of advancing out of group B in danger.
A victory over the Czech Republic on Monday afternoon will be enough to seal second place and progression to the next round, however a loss will guarantee their elimination.
Photo: Boxing Gloves by Prateek Katyal is found HERE and used under a Creative Commons Licence. The image has been modified.
