■Soccer
Beckham eyes baseball bid
Football's glamour boy David Beckham hopes to try his hand at baseball, the king sport in Japan, when he returns there in August, a Tokyo sports daily said yesterday. The 28-year-old England captain wants to pitch the first ball to open a Japanese professional baseball match when he tours here with his new club Real Madrid for a football friendly, the newspaper Sports Nippon reported. Real Madrid will play J-League FC Tokyo at the National Stadium on Aug. 5.
■ Soccer
Gazza still missing
Former England soccer star Paul Gascoigne is missing from his Chinese league team and could be penalized for violating his contract, the club said yesterday. The 36-year-old midfielder known as "Gazza" joined second-division Gansu Tianma in China's northwest in January after failing to find a contract in Europe or the US. Gascoigne hasn't contacted Tianma officials since he left last month during the SARS outbreak, team spokeswoman Chen Rong said by telephone from the western city of Lanzhou. "If he doesn't come back, we'll take action under international legal norms," Chen said.
■ Golf
Woods hits new landmark
The Buick Classic wasn't a total loss for Tiger Woods. He made the cut for the 105th consecutive time on the PGA Tour, tying him with Jack Nicklaus for the second-longest streak in tour history. The record is 113 set by Byron Nelson in 1940s. While there have been a few close calls, such as the Masters this year, Woods might not be closing in on the mark if not for Matt Kuchar. The cut streak was at 24 going into the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational when Woods opened with a 74 and followed that with a 72. He was at 2-over 146 and in a tie for 71st. How did he make it to the weekend? The cut is for the top 70 ``professionals'' and ties. Kuchar played Bay Hill as an amateur that year and was 2-under 142 after 36 holes -- meaning Woods and everyone else at 146 made the cut on the number.
■ Hockey
`Miracle' team enters hall
Twenty-three years later, the "Miracle on Ice" team is going into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. The entire 1980 squad, which earned a shocking victory over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York, en route to winning the gold medal, will be inducted along with four players, the Hall of Fame announced on Tuesday. The Olympic coaching staff, general manager, team physician, trainer, equipment manager, chairman of the US Olympic Hockey Committee and all 20 players will be enshrined at a ceremony on Oct. 18. Pat LaFontaine, Mark Howe, John Cunniff and Dick Dougherty will also be inducted. The underdog Americans, coached by Herb Brooks, upset the Soviets when Mike Eruzione scored midway through the third period of the semifinal game to give Team USA a 4-3 victory. The Americans won the gold medal by defeating Finland 4-2.
■ Football
Cardinals fullback arrested
Arizona Cardinals backup fullback Dennis McKinley and three other men were arrested on Tuesday as suspects in an investigation into an international drug ring. Police say McKinley, who had his contract terminated by the Cardinals hours after his arrest, rented a warehouse where marijuana shipments from Mexico were stored. The four men were accused of buying marijuana that had been smuggled in from Mexico, repackaging it in Phoenix and then transporting it to major cities in the US.
Agencies
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB