Raúl Jiménez started in Fulham's victory over Southampton.

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. 9

Mexican striker Raúl Jiménez participated yesterday in his team, Fulham,'s close 2-1 victory over Southampton in the 34th match of the English Premier League.

The national team played for 90 minutes, and although they created danger, they failed to put the ball in the back of the net.

Southampton, who have been relegated for several weeks, took the lead in the 14th minute through a goal from Jack Stephens; however, Fulham turned the score around thanks to goals from Emile Smith-Rowe (72) and Ryan Sessegnon (90+2).

With this victory, the London team earned 51 points and moved into eighth place in the standings. If they maintain this position, they will secure their ticket to the Conference League next season.

For its part, Southampton, which has lost 27 matches this season and has conceded 80 goals, the worst figure in its history in the top division of English football, remained in last place (20), with 11 points.

Meanwhile, fellow Mexican Edson Álvarez did not play in the match in which his team, West Ham (ranked 17th), lost 3-2 to Brighton (ninth).

Meanwhile, Newcastle (third position) continues to have a good chance of playing in the next Champions League after beating Ipswich Town (18th) 3-0, a result that relegates the Tractor Boys to the Championship (2nd division in England).

The match went Newcastle's way when the opponent was reduced to one man less after Ben Johnson received his second booking in the 37th minute.

The Swede Alexander Isak put the Magpies ahead by converting a penalty in the last play before the break (45+4), and in the second half Dan Burn (56) and the Dane William Osula (80) sealed the victory.

Thanks to their victory, Newcastle reached 62 points and returned to the Premier League podium, surpassing Manchester City (4th, with 61) and Chelsea (5th, with 60), who, in turn, beat Everton 1-0 with a goal from Nicolas Jackson in the 27th minute.

Crystal Palace surprises in the FA Cup

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace pulled off a surprise victory in the first FA Cup semi-final by beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley Stadium.

The south London club, currently twelfth in the Premier League, will try to win its first ever title at this very venue in the final on May 17.

However, it won't be an easy task, as the matchup will be against either Manchester City or Nottingham Forest, who play the other semifinal today.

It will be the third FA Cup final in Crystal Palace's history, having lost the previous two to Manchester United, in 1990 and 2016.

If they lift the trophy in this tournament, the oldest in football, Crystal Palace would secure a spot in the next Europa League.

(With information from AFP)

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. a10

17-year-old catcher José Lavagnino from Sinaloa had a dream weekend for any baseball player. He made his professional debut with the Diablos Rojos del México on Friday and signed a minor league contract a day later with the New York Yankees, the most successful franchise in Major League Baseball (MLB).

There's a baseball tradition that seems to guide his path. The young prospect is the grandson of Arnoldo Kiko Castro, who, after a distinguished career of fielding and hitting, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995. Furthermore, José's father is Joselo Lavagnino, a former professional baseball player and head of the Venados de Mazatlán training academy.

With a hit in his first at-bat against the Querétaro Conspirators, the new franchise of the Mexican Baseball League, Lavagnino made his debut with the Scarlets after having been part of Alfredo Harp Helú's training academy.

Now, he'll meet up with fellow young Sinaloans Alexis González and Freddy Peñuelas, who were signed by the Yankees and will play in the Dominican Republic as part of their development process toward the Major Leagues.

Their stay in the Dominican Republic will include bullpen sessions, video analysis, and conditioning routines to improve their defensive and hitting performance. They will also receive training on high-speed pitches.

▲ The young man will train in the Dominican Republic. Photo @DiablosRojosMX

Young Mexican players appear to be gaining ground in MLB franchises' development programs. Ezequiel "La Máquina" Rivera surprised everyone in July 2024 by signing a pre-agreement with the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers at just 14 years old.

Meanwhile, in the Mexican Baseball League, the Diablos Rojos del México took the second game of the series against the Conspirators to increase their lead to 2-0, after defeating them 17-10 at Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium.

Dominican and former major leaguer Francisco Mejía hit his first home run with the Pingos, and he did it in the best way possible with a grand slam to give the Red Sox a 17-5 lead in the eighth inning.

Juan Carlos Gamboa hit a home run in the third inning to start a comeback, while Ramón Flores hit a triple.

Tijuana wins MLB Cup for the fifth time

The Tijuana Municipal League claimed its fifth MLB Cup crown for minor leagues by defeating Liga Treviño Kelly of Reynosa 10-8 in the final of the sixth edition of the tournament held at Potosí Baseball Park in San Luis Potosí.

Pitcher René Murillo was instrumental in Tijuana's reclaiming of the title after a strong performance throughout the tournament, earning her the Most Valuable Player award.

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. a10

In her return to athletics after overcoming an injury sustained last March, Alegna González broke her own Mexican record and improved her personal best in the 5,000 meters at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, USA.

The two-time Olympian took first place in the competition with a time of 21:22.66 minutes at Franklin Field, the University of Pennsylvania stadium, while American Lauren Harris (21:52.58) and Costa Rican Noelia Vargas (22:54.88) finished in second and third place respectively.

The walker surpassed her own national record (22:06.40) and placed fourth in the world rankings , led by Ukraine's Lyudmila Olyanovska (20:26.26).

The good news continued for Mexican race walking after Valeria Ortuño and Sofía Ramos took home gold medals in the 10 and 20 kilometers, respectively, at the International Meeting in Slovakia.

Ortuño completed the course in 46:10 minutes, while Ramos clocked 1:36.19 hours.

The national harvest was added to by the silver obtained by Ever Palma in the 20 kilometers (1:25.21) and the bronze by Jeferson Segura in the same event.

Warholm establishes a world record

Norwegian sprinter Karsten Warholm was the star of the 2025 Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China, setting a new world record in the 300m hurdles.

▲ The race walker opened her season after overcoming an injury sustained a month ago. Photo by Conade

The 29-year-old athlete ran the distance, a new entry in official competition as announced by World Athletics at the end of March, in 33.05 seconds, bettering his own world record, set four years ago in Oslo with a time of 33.26.

Brazilian Matheus Lima, the other runner who went under 34 seconds (33.98) took silver, while third place went to Japanese Ken Toyoda (34.22).

An Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, Warholm was upset last year in the final of the 2024 Paris Games by American Rai Benjamin, who relegated the Norwegian to second place.

Armand Duplantis, under 6 meters

Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis won without much difficulty, but was unable to clear the bar in the 6 meters, settling at a modest 5.92.

The 25-year-old double Olympic champion cleared 5.62, 5.82 and 5.92 on his first attempt, but failed on all three of his jumps to clear the bar set at 6.01, far from his world record (6.27), set at the beginning of March in Clermont-Ferrand.

In the high jump, Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchich, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, took the victory with a jump of 1.97 meters.

(With information from AFP)

▲ Bryson shot -13 yesterday and is aiming to win the LIV Golf Mexico at the Chapultepec Club this Sunday. AP Photo

Adriana Díaz Reyes

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. a11

Although golf has been played in Mexico and Latin America since the late 19th century, its professional level remains accessible only to a select segment of the population.

Although the city government is pursuing a popularization strategy through free schools and classes, combining it with other disciplines such as soccer, baseball, or boxing seems like a task that will take more than one administration.

“It’s not just about the classes; to be a golfer, you have to take into account other factors, such as acquiring the necessary tools like shoes, balls (from 200 to 1,000 pesos each), clubs (from 3,000 to 35,000 pesos), and a caddie , and none of them are very cheap,” shares Jorge, who attends the LIV Golf México tournament held at the Chapultepec Club with his family.

Although golf in our country generates revenues of more than 20 billion pesos a year, it still remains on the margins of popular interest, also due to the high cost of tickets to tournaments hosted by Mexico.

At the 54th Chapultepec Stadium, for example, the cheapest ticket costs over a thousand pesos, and the most expensive, half a million.

Additionally, you have to add about 700 pesos a day for food per person and about two thousand pesos for official merchandise. Golf isn't a very accessible sport yet, but hopefully it will be soon , Jorge added.

DeChambeau remains the leader

American Bryson DeChambeau maintained his lead in the second round of the LIV Golf Mexico after posting a score of -13.

Although he had some problems on the 5th hole, the two-time Masters champion was able to recover and maintain his lead over Cameron Smith, who finished second and was now one stroke behind (-12) the leader.

I had the same problem as yesterday, but I managed to recover. I tried to feel more comfortable on the course and enjoy myself instead of putting pressure on myself, and I think it worked. The lead is minimal, so I have to play much better tomorrow (today) , said the player, who holed an eagle, six birdies , and three bogeys .

Latin America raised its hand on the second day of activities, with Chile's Joaquín Nieman in third place at -10.

“I've had some good weeks on the greens because they're a bit tricky. The whole course slopes in one direction and the greens in another. It's a bit tricky, but I feel like I'm getting used to it,” the Andean commented.

Mexican Carlos Ortiz is in eighth place at -6, while fellow host Abraham Ancer handled the altitude a little better and climbed to 30th.

It would be incredible to win at home in front of my fans after so long without playing here. I feel good after two rounds, but I haven't played well enough to get any closer to the leaders , Ortiz said.

Spaniard Jon Rahm and Englishman Tyrell Hatton are close behind the leaders, with scores at -9 and -8, respectively, and are in contention for the Mexican championship.

In the team tournament, Ripper GC remains in the lead with -24 in its accumulated after two days, followed by Crushers GC with two less strokes and a Torque GC combination of all Latin players (Niemann and Ortiz among them), who with an overall -19 will seek victory this Sunday before the Mexican public.

AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. a11

Miami. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-115 yesterday, securing a 4-0 sweep and becoming the first team to advance to the NBA Western Conference semifinals.

The Grizzlies, who were without Ja Morant due to a hip injury last game, faced a nearly impossible task against the powerful Oklahoma team, as no team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA playoffs .

In the next round, the Thunder will face the winner of the series between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers. The former tied the series at 2-2 with a 101-99 victory.

Memphis trailed by 12 points with three and a half minutes remaining when they made one last push with a 10-0 run, before Oklahoma City sealed the victory from the free throw line.

For the Grizzlies, Scotty Pippen Jr. again filled in for Morant with 30 points and 11 rebounds, while Desmond Bane and Santi Aldama each added 23 points. However, Gilgeous-Alexander, a finalist for the MVP award, finished with a fabulous 38 points, shooting 54 percent from the field, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists. Forward Jalen Williams followed with 23 points.

Jáquez played only 5 minutes

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers, the top team in the East, defeated the Miami Heat 124-87 in Game 3 of the series, with Mexican Jaime Jázque playing only five minutes. With this result, Cleveland will have its first chance to advance in Game 4 of the series next Monday.

Jáquez played in the final minutes of the match, but couldn't do much, and now his team has the difficult task of winning, even if it's just their fourth match.

Ty Jerome (Cleveland) scored 13 points and also dished out 11 assists, a record for a Cavaliers reserve in the playoffs .

▲ After suffering his third straight defeat, world number five Novak Djokovic admitted he was facing a new reality after two decades as a professional tennis player. His public admission of his unusual slump came after falling 3-6, 4-6 to Italy's Matteo Arnaldi in his Madrid Masters debut. "I'm looking to win a match or two, without thinking about going far in tournaments. It's a completely different feeling than I've had for more than 20 years on tour. I guess it's just the cycle of life. It was bound to happen at some point ," reflected the 37-year-old Serb, who is chasing his 100th title. Photo by AFP with information from AP

La Jornada Newspaper, Sunday, April 27, 2025, p. a11