Ibrahimovic scores twice as Inter retain Serie A title - SOCCER:Zlatan Ibrahimovic returned from injury to score twice as Inter Milan retained their Serie A title yesterday with a 2-0 win at Parma, who are relegated.
Inter's triumph on the final day of the season is their 16th Italian championship and third in a row.
Second-placed AS Roma finished three points behind Inter after drawing 1-1 at Catania, who stay up with Empoli going down despite a 2-1 win over already-relegated Livrono.
Fiorentina bagged the final Champions League qualifying place ahead of AC Milan after Pablo Osvaldo's overhead kick sealed a 1-0 win at Torino. Fifth-placed Milan beat Udinese 4-1 but will not play in Europes premier club competition next season for the first time since the 2001/02 campaign.
Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero was Serie A top scorer for the season for the first time after his double in Saturday's 3-3 draw at Sampdoria took his tally to 21, with no one coming close to beating his mark yesterday.
Battling Loeb takes Rally of Italy
MOTOR SPORT: Citroen's Sebastien Loeb edged closer to the top of the World Rally drivers' standings after holding off a valiant fightback by BP Ford duo Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala to win the Rally of Italy.
The Frenchman took the victory by just 10.6 seconds from second-placed Hirvonen having been a minute up on his title rival at the end of Friday's first leg. But running first on the dusty Sardinian stages did little to help Loeb's cause, allowing the Finnish pair to make it a grandstand finish yesterday, with the Frenchman just doing enough over the final five stages to secure his 40th WRC win.
Latvala had to settle for third, five seconds down on his team-mate, while Gigi Galli continued the strong form of the Stobart Ford squad as he took fourth ahead of Loeb's team-mate Dani Sordo. Hirvonen's solid podium ensures he retains the lead of the drivers' standings on 43 points. Talbot wins in Copenhagen
SHOWJUMPING:Niall Talbot saw his season's earnings increase by €10,000 when he landed the Grand Prix at Copenhagen yesterday on Tequi d'I CH, writes Margie McLoone.
The Swiss-based rider and Isabel Balitzer's 14-year-old chestnut stallion were just under half a second faster than British runner-up Carl Curtis and Panacee, while Shane Breen finished sixth on Littlear.
Talbot also won the morning's two-phase class with Onisha.
In the Grand Prix at Antwerp, where only two combinations got through to the jump-off round, Jessica Kürten finished fifth on Galopin de Biolay. At home, Gerard Clarke (17) won his first senior Grand Prix when Kellswater Crimson took the third round of the Showjumping Ireland national Grand Prix league by one and a half seconds.
Rossi wins in France to lead MotoGP
MOTOR CYCLING: Valentino Rossi won the French Grand Prix at Le Mans yesterday to celebrate his 90th victory in all categories and take the lead in the MotoGP world championship.
The Italian, who started from the second row on a rainy day, finished comfortably ahead of Spanish team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, cleared to race despite injuring both his ankles in a crash in China two weeks ago.
American Colin Edwards completed a Yamaha sweep of the podium places with third.
Spain's Dani Pedrosa, who had claimed pole position, finished fourth on his Honda to lose the championship lead to Rossi.
Lorenzo needed the help of crutches to get to the podium, where he sat on a chair to relieve the pain from his ankles.
Bennati sprints to stage win
CYCLING: Italy's Daniele Bennati of the Liquigas team won his second stage at the Giro d'Italia yesterday with a powerful sprint finish in San Vincenzo.
The 27-year-old was almost beaten by compatriot and world champion Paolo Bettini but threw his bike towards the finish line and won by half a wheel.
Australia's Robbie McEwen finished third.
Italys Giovanni Visconti of the Quick Step team finished in the same time as Bennati and retained the overall race lead.
"I took a few risks but the important thing is I won, Bennati said. I was going to put my arms up to celebrate before the line but when I saw Paolo coming up I threw my bike at the line and just got it.
"I'm sorry I beat him because I know the stage is close to his home town but I wanted to win because it's the only stage in Tuscany where I live," Bennati added.
The Giro resumes tomorrow with the 39.4km individual time trial from Pesaro to Urbino.
China land Thomas Cup
BADMINTON: China beat South Korea 3-1 yesterday to win the Thomas Cup title for the third time in a row. World number one Lin Dan put the Chinese on the road to victory with a tight opening singles win against Park Sung-hwan and said he hoped the victory would spur him to Olympic gold in front of his home fans in Beijing in August. China won the Uber Cup womens title for the sixth consecutive time on Saturday after beating Indonesia 3-0.
