Sports news and briefs

Ben Hamilton

March 22, 2012 - 15:32

All okay for AGK - Maze’s magic continues - Super six for Tom - Cricketers on losing streak - Nobody’s at home - Opening draw for Danes

Mikkel Hansen fights to get free during AGK's Champions League win over Sweden's IK Sävehof (Photo:Scanpix)

Danish champions AG København look a good bet for the quarter-finals of handball’s Champions League following a comfortable 34-25 defeat of IK Sävehof in Sweden. Mikkel Hansen, the world player of the year for 2011, had a quiet night, scoring just four times in between lots of rest time, while Mads Larsen top scored with six. The return leg is on Saturday.

Michael Maze was the hero for his Russian club UMMC in the second leg of the semi-final of table tennis’s Champions League, beating German champion Bastian Steger in straight sets to take his club through to the final. The win sealed a sorely needed 3-0 defeat of Saarbrücken, which had won the first leg 3-0, and put UMMC through thanks to a 14-12 aggregate set superiority.

Tom Kristensen, 44, and his Audi team-mates were victorious last Saturday in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the opening race of the American Le Mans Series. It was the Dane’s sixth career win – his first came in 1999. The eight-time Le Mans winner, along with Scotland’s Allan McNish and Italy’s Dindo Capello, completed a gruelling 325 laps, four more than their nearest rivals.

Denmark finished bottom of their ICC World Twenty20 qualifying group despite winning their first game against Bermuda last week on Tuesday. Six successive losses followed, five of which involved the national side losing at least eight of their wickets. Denmark faces a final game against winless Oman on March 22 to avoid walking away with the wooden spoon.

British super middleweight boxer James DeGale will defend his European Boxing Union title at the Nord Arena in Frederikshavn on April 21 ... against Italy’s Cristian Sanavia. The bout’s location is the choice of the purse rights holder, the Italian promotion company Round Zero. Meanwhile, fellow UK boxer Brian Magee has turned down the chance to fight Mikkel Kessler.

Denmark’s under-17s side on Tuesday night drew 2-2 with Iceland in their first game of the elite round of the European Under-17 Championship, a four-team group they must win to advance to the finals in Slovenia in May. Their next game is against Lithuania on Thursday, followed by Scotland on Sunday. Hosts Scotland beat Lithuania 1-0 in the other game.