Sports in Brief: Manchester City sews up English Premier League title

Manchester City won the English Premier League for the second time in three seasons on Sunday, completing its campaign with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over West Ham. Unlike the stoppage-time comeback required in the 2012 title decider, goals either side of halftime by Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany left little doubt of the outcome.

All three sides challenging for the Spanish title failed to win on the season's penultimate weekend, ensuring the title race will go to the final week. Atletico Madrid drew, 1-1, at home to ten-man Malaga, Barcelona was held to a scoreless draw at Elche, while Real Madrid fell to a 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo. The results mean only Barcelona or Atletico can now win the title. They will face each other in the season's final round at Nou Camp next weekend.

AUTO RACING Jeff Gordon grabbed the lead in the final laps at Kansas Speedway and held on for his first victory of the season and 89th overall Saturday night. Gordon held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick on the final lap to move into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. Kasey Kahne was third, followed by Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Danica Patrick was seventh for her best career Cup finish.

TENNIS Rafael Nadal won his fourth Madrid Open title after Kei Nishikori withdrew with a back injury when trailing, 2-6, 6-4, 3-0, in the final. Earlier, Maria Sharapova bounced back from a poor start to defeat Simona Halep, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, to win the women's title.

TRACK In Tokyo, Justin Gatlin won the men's 100 meters on at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in a time of 10.02 seconds. Gatlin beat American compatriot Mike Rodgers by 0.09 seconds. Tianna Bartletta of the U.S. contingent won the women's 100 with a time of 11.18, 0.27 seconds ahead of Melissa Breen of Australia. American Chelsea Hayes was third in 11.53.

HOCKEY In Minsk, Belarus, defending champion Sweden prevailed in a shootout to edge the Czech Republic, 4-3, at the ice hockey world championship, and Russia handed Finland a 4-2 defeat for its second straight win. Germany and Norway also made it two wins in two games, while France failed to build on its upset victory over Canada, losing by 2-1 to Italy. Joakim Lindstrom scored the winning penalty.

Russian President Vladimir Putin led his team to victory in an exhibition hockey game in Sochi Saturday night. Playing on a line with ex-Red Army and NHL star Pavel Bure, Putin scored six goals and had five assists in a 21-4 rout. A highlights video showed defenders either unable or unwilling to guard the Russian leader. It is just another addition to Putin's long list of accomplishments in judo, fly-fishing, bear-wrestling, deep sea diving, and shirtless horseback riding.

COLLEGES Former Minnesota quarterback Philip Robert Nelson was jailed after a fight in Mankato, Minn., early Sunday that sent a former Minnesota State-Mankato linebacker to the hospital in critical condition.

Nelson, Minnesota's Mr. Football in 2011, left the Gophers in January to transfer to Rutgers. He played in 11 games last season but said Rutgers offered a more pass-friendly offense. He threw for 1,306 yards with nine touchdowns last season while sharing quarterback duties with Mitch Leidner. Nelson was going to sit out the 2014 season and then would have two seasons of eligibility left.

A Rutgers athletics spokesman said, "We are in the process of gathering information on the situation and reserve comment until the legal process is complete."

Annika Dries broke a tie with the first of Stanford's four fourth-quarter goals, and the top-ranked Cardinal won the NCAA women's water polo title in Los Angeles, beating UCLA, 9-5. Stanford (34-1) avenged its only loss of the season to win its fourth title and third in four years. No. 2 UCLA (27-5) led 5-3 at the half, but could not score in the final two quarters.

- Inquirer wire services