Sato beats Akaho to defend WBC super-fly title
TOKYO: Yota Sato defeated fellow Japanese boxer Ryo Akaho by a unanimous decision victory to defend the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-flyweight title on Monday.

Three judges scored it 117-111, 117-112 and 118-110, all in favor of the defending champion. It was Sato’s second defense of the title he wrested from Suriyan Sor Rungvisai of Thailand in March, improving his record to 26 wins, including 12 KOs, against two defeats and a draw. Akaho, who is ranked fifth in the WBC, now has 19 wins including 12 KOs, against one defeat and two draws.

Kono KOs Tepparith to win WBA super-fly title
TOKYO: Japan’s Kohei Kono knocked out title-holder Tepparith Kokietgym of Thailand to win the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-flyweight title on Monday. The eighth-ranked Japanese fighter finished off the Thai champ two minutes and eight seconds into the fourth round, after sending him to the floor three times. It’s 32-year-old Kono’s third attempt at a world title, stretching his record to 28 wins, including 11 KOs, against seven defeats. Tepparith, who has beaten champions Drian Francisco of the Philippines and Japan’s Daiki Kameda, Tomonobu Shimizu and Nobuo Nashiro previously, sees his record now stand at 21 wins, including 13 KOs, against three defeats.

Mexican Olympic medalist shot in head
MEXICO CITY: Noe Hernandez, a Mexican who won the silver medal in race walking at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, lost his left eye and was in serious condition on Monday after being shot in the head in a bar, reports said. Carlos Castillo Rangel, the surgeon who treated Hernandez, was quoted as saying that the 34-year-old ex-athlete was in “very serious” but stable condition after being hit in the left, frontal area of his head. Hernandez was at the “Queen of Kings” nightclub in the central state of Mexico on Sunday, when three gunmen burst in and shot at customers, killing two people and seriously wounding two others, the prosecutor’s office said. Hernandez, who serves as sports secretary for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in Mexico state, underwent three surgeries after being struck by a 9mm bullet.

Kenyans dominate Saint Silvester Road race
SAO PAULO: Kenyans won both the men’s and the women’s races in the 88th edition of Saint Silvester Road Race on Monday. Setting off just after the break of day to avoid the worst of the afternoon heat in the Brazilian city, the men’s 15 kilometers race was a triumph for Edwin Kipsang who   led a Kenyan clean sweep of the podium in a time of 44 minutes and four seconds. Second place went to Joseph Aperumoi with third going to Mark Korir. The women’s winner was Maurine Kipchumba in a time of 51mins 42secs ahead of Tanzania’s Jackline Juma with another Kenyan, Rumokol Chepkman, in third.