Japan tops Hawaii for LLWS title

Baseball: The Little League aces from Japan ended the United States’ five-year reign as World Series champions.

The team from Tokyo limited Waipahu, Hawaii, to four singles, and got a homer and three RBIs from Konan Tomori to take the Little League World Series title with a 4-1 victory Sunday at South Williamsport, Pa.

For the first time since 2003, a team from Japan is flying home with the championship banner.

Hawaii, which had scored 29 runs over its previous three games, came up short at the plate against Tokyo.

Hawaii’s only run came on an error off a sacrifice bunt in the fourth, but reliever Ichiro Ogasawara worked out of a second-and-third jam with a strikeout and a weak bouncer.

Ryusuke Ikeda got the win with after striking out five and allowing four hits over three innings, before Ogasawara pitched the final three, striking out three to get his third save.

In the third-place game, Chen-Wei Chen had three hits and Wei-Chih Chen fired a four-hitter to lead Kaoshiung, Taiwan, to a 14-2 victory over Pearland, Texas, in a game ended after four innings because of the 10-run rule.

Hamilton takes over Formula One lead

Auto racing: Lewis Hamilton overcame a late slip to win the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, and take the overall lead of the Formula One championship.

Hamilton ran wide with nine laps to race but recovered to keep the lead and edge second-place Mark Webber of Red Bull. Webber dropped to second in the overall standings after failing to defend his pole position.

Robert Kubica of Renault was third.

Jenson Button’s title hopes took a hit after the defending F1 champion was knocked out of the race when Sebastian Vettel crashed into him during a failed overtaking maneuver.

• Said wins in Montreal: Boris Said won the Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, edging Max Papis by a nose on a green-white-checkered finish.

Papis passed Said entering the final chicane for a split second, but Said never lost momentum and sped back by and outraced Papis to the line.

Jacques Villeneuve was third, followed by series points leader Brad Keselowski and Paul Menard.

Rudisha caps big week with 800 record

Track and field: Kenya’s David Rudisha set a world record in the 800 meters for the second time in a week and Jamaica’s Nesta Carter ran 9.78 seconds in the 100 meters at the Rieti (Italy) Grand Prix, tying American Tyson Gay for the fastest time this year.

Rudisha clocked 1 minute, 41.01 seconds in the two-lap race, shaving 0.08 seconds off the mark he set last weekend in Berlin.

Helped by a slight tail wind, Carter used a strong finishing kick to lead an extremely fast field, with seven of the eight entrants clocking 10 seconds or under.

Ryan Bailey of the United States was the runner-up in a personal best 9.88, Mario Forsythe of Jamaica finished third in a personal best 9.95 and Christophe Lemaitre of France crossed fourth in a national record 9.97.

David Oliver of the United States won the 110 hurdles in 13.01, far off Dayron Robles’ world record of 12.87, but fast enough to shave 0.06 seconds off Colin Jackson’s meet record set in 1994.

20-1 shot surprises Rachel Alexandra

Horse racing: Rachel Alexandra was upset by Persistently in the $300,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after the reigning Horse of the Year was caught in the final strides by the 20-1 shot.

The stunning finish silenced a large crowd that turned out to see Rachel Alexandra’s return to the Spa after last year’s electrifying victory over boys in the Woodward.

Rachel Alexandra has now lost three times in five starts this year after rolling to an 8-0 record in her 2009 championship season.

Persistently won the 1 1/4-mile Personal Ensign by one length for her first victory in a stakes race.

Clarett gets a look from UFL team

Football: The general manager of the United Football League’s Omaha Nighthawks says the team will decide today whether to sign Maurice Clarett to a contract.

The team put Clarett through a private workout and physical Sunday, and general manager Rick Mueller said the former Ohio State star running back looked good. Mueller declined to comment on specifics.