Sport in Brief

Vermeulen best at French GP * LE MANS – Australian Chris Vermeulen, riding a Suzuki, won the French motoGP yesterday.

Vermeulen came home ahead of Italian Honda rider Marco Melandri with world championship leader Casey Stoner of Australia, riding a Ducati, in third. Gronholm wins in Sardinia * MILAN – Marcus Gronholm won the Rally of Sardinia yesterday to take over the lead in the championship from Sebastien Loeb after the triple world champion crashed out.Finland’s Gronholm, in the main BP-Ford works team, won by 29.2 seconds from Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen in second.Spain’s Dani Sordo in his Citroen finished third.Gronholm now leads Loeb by seven points at the top of the drivers’ standings after the Frenchman spun into a ditch on the first stage of the final leg.Citroen driver Loeb, who had been chasing his fourth win in a row this year and third successive victory in Italy, led the race after day one and two.Panesar takes best of six * LONDON – Monty Panesar completed his fourth five-wicket haul in test matches yesterday to give England a 116-run first innings lead over West Indies on the fourth day of the first test at Lord’s.The left-arm spinner, who took a wicket with his first delivery of the match on Saturday, won two further lbw decisions from Asad Rauf to finish with a test best of six for 129 from 36.1 overs.West Indies, who had been 187 for five at one stage on Saturday, were all out for 437 in reply to England 553 for five declared.At lunch England were eight for no wicket in their second innings After bowling Devon Smith with his first ball of the match, all Panesar’s remaining victims were dismissed lbw.Samoa beat Fiji in Pacific Cup * SYDNEY – Samoa beat Fiji 8-3 in a low-scoring match in Apia yesterday to win the opening game of this season’s expanded Pacific Nations Cup.Openside flanker Alapasa Cordtz scored the only try of the match.His team mate Gavin Williams and Fiji fullback Taniela Rawaqa traded penalties.The teams were due to play each other on June 9 but the match was brought forward to avoid clashing with Fiji’s scheduled test against Australia in Perth.Japan and Tonga are also involved in the six-team tournament, along with New Zealand’s Junior All Blacks and Australia A.Hargreaves to join Man Utd * BERLIN – England international Owen Hargreaves will quit Bayern Munichand sign for Manchester United this summer, the German giant’s president Franz Beckenbauer confirmed yesterday.After months of speculation, the 26-year-old midfielder, who has only played nine games for Bayern this season because of injury, will sign for the United in a deal believed to be in the region of 25 million euros.Reports by Nampa and AFPGronholm wins in Sardinia * MILAN – Marcus Gronholm won the Rally of Sardinia yesterday to take over the lead in the championship from Sebastien Loeb after the triple world champion crashed out.Finland’s Gronholm, in the main BP-Ford works team, won by 29.2 seconds from Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen in second.Spain’s Dani Sordo in his Citroen finished third.Gronholm now leads Loeb by seven points at the top of the drivers’ standings after the Frenchman spun into a ditch on the first stage of the final leg.Citroen driver Loeb, who had been chasing his fourth win in a row this year and third successive victory in Italy, led the race after day one and two.Panesar takes best of six * LONDON – Monty Panesar completed his fourth five-wicket haul in test matches yesterday to give England a 116-run first innings lead over West Indies on the fourth day of the first test at Lord’s.The left-arm spinner, who took a wicket with his first delivery of the match on Saturday, won two further lbw decisions from Asad Rauf to finish with a test best of six for 129 from 36.1 overs.West Indies, who had been 187 for five at one stage on Saturday, were all out for 437 in reply to England 553 for five declared.At lunch England were eight for no wicket in their second innings After bowling Devon Smith with his first ball of the match, all Panesar’s remaining victims were dismissed lbw.Samoa beat Fiji in Pacific Cup * SYDNEY – Samoa beat Fiji 8-3 in a low-scoring match in Apia yesterday to win the opening game of this season’s expanded Pacific Nations Cup.Openside flanker Alapasa Cordtz scored the only try of the match.His team mate Gavin Williams and Fiji fullback Taniela Rawaqa traded penalties.The teams were due to play each other on June 9 but the match was brought forward to avoid clashing with Fiji’s scheduled test against Australia in Perth.Japan and Tonga are also involved in the six-team tournament, along with New Zealand’s Junior All Blacks and Australia A.Hargreaves to join Man Utd * BERLIN – England international Owen Hargreaves will quit Bayern Munichand sign for Manchester United this summer, the German giant’s president Franz Beckenbauer confirmed yesterday.After months of speculation, the 26-year-old midfielder, who has only played nine games for Bayern this season because of injury, will sign for the United in a deal believed to be in the region of 25 million euros.Reports by Nampa and AFP