■ Boxing
Klitschko goes on offensive
Ukrainian boxer Vitali Klitschko, who says he would have beaten Lennox Lewis in last month's world heavyweight title fight if it had not been stopped, has pledged to resume training in two months for a rematch. Briton Lewis said on Wednesday he was ready to give Klitschko a rematch, tentatively set for Dec. 6, and the Ukrainian said he could start training again by September. "I will just stay and relax in Ukraine until September, then I will go wherever I have to, depending on where the rematch will take place. I always train in the same city as I fight," Klitschko said in the Russian daily Izvestia on Thursday.
■ Soccer
Death linked to heart attack
Heart problems could have caused the sudden death of a soccer player during training, local press reported on Thursday. Maximiliano Patrick Ferreira collapsed during practice with his Botafogo de Ribeirao Preto club on Wednesday, and couldn't be revived by medics in a chilling repeat of the death of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe last week during the semifinals of the Confederations Cup in France. "What must have happened ... was an arrhythmia or a severe heart attack, due to a lack of oxygen in the brain," said Dr. Dayr Kiomizu Kazava of the Legal Medicine Center.
■ Rugby Union
All Black denies split
All Blacks coach John Mitchell denied yesterday he has a "personal conflict" with Christian Cullen, who is quitting New Zealand to play rugby in Ireland. Mitchell told the New Zealand Herald that Cullen's non-selection for the All Blacks this season was based on technical, not personal issues. "He is a fantastic bloke, a great guy and there is no personal conflict," Mitchell said. Cullen, New Zealand's most-capped fullback and leading tryscorer in tests, Thursday confirmed he had signed a three-year contract with the Irish club Munster.
■ Motor racing
Tracy takes initiative
Paul Tracy, CART's season series points leader, won the provisional pole during the first day of qualifying at the CART Cleveland Grand Prix, which will be run at night for the first time in 22 years. Tracy, who won the season's first three events, turned a lap in 58.40 seconds, nearly one-half second ahead of his Players' teammate and defending champion Patrick Carpentier (58.86). Rookie Sebastien Bourdais was third (59.16). By winning the provisional pole, Tracy picked up one point in the standings -- his 100th -- and is guaranteed a front-row start today when drivers will be running under temporary lights set up along the course.
■ Baseball
Rockies close escalators
The Colorado Rockies shut down all their stadium escalators for Thursday's night's game, one day after a three-story-high escalator apparently malfunctioned and tossed dozens of screaming baseball fans into a heap. At least 32 people were injured, and nine remained hospitalized, authorities said on Thursday. Assistant Fire Chief Larry Trujillo said most injuries were fractures, cuts and bruises, and none appeared to be critical. "It's like it had no brakes and everybody was just piling up at the end of it,'' said Cherri Brownfield, who was on the escalator Wednesday night Inspectors who looked at the escalator after the accident found nothing to explain what happened.
■Golf
Turbo trio out in front
South African Retief Goosen was one of three players to break the course record on the revamped K Club `North' course on Thursday in the first round of the European Open. Goosen, aiming for a third successive European order of merit, joined Scotland's Alastair Forsyth and Welsh Ryder Cup hero Phillip Price on 66. On a congested leaderboard, one of the tournament favorites, Darren Clarke, is tied for fourth place, while another, Colin Montgomerie, is two shots off the pace. Defending champion Michael Campbell is four shots behind. Clarke had to compose himself after hitting his playing-partner Stephen Leaney's pregnant wife Tracey on the head with his tee shot at the 11th. She recovered with no ill effects and a relieved Clarke went on to collect three birdies in the next four holes.
■ Soccer
African Cup heats up
The qualifying round for next year's African Cup of Nations heads into its final weekend with 11 berths still unclaimed, and Egypt, Morocco and South Africa look set to take three of them. Egypt, a four-time winner of the continental tournament, has the best chance to join host Tunisia, defending champion Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and Senegal in the competition finals in January. The Pharaohs have played all four of their Group 10 matches and lead Madagascar by three points. But Madagascar, which hosts Mauritius, needs to make up a 17-goal difference in order to overtake Egypt in the standings. Morocco, which won this tournament in 1976, leads Sierra Leone in Group 7 by three points. It needs only a draw at Equatorial Guinea to ensure qualification. South Africa also needs only a draw to move on. Bafana Bafana, which trails Ivory Coast in Group 11 on goal difference, visits winless Burundi.
■ Olympics
Vote mystery unsolved
A day after Vancouver's narrow win in the selection of the 2010 Olympic host city, the mystery of the uncast votes remained unsolved.
Four IOC members failed to vote in the first round of Wednesday's secret ballot and three in the second round -- a factor which could have swung the election the other way. "The only explanation is they just did not operate the machine," said IOC board member Denis Oswald, a scrutineer for the vote. "Based on experience, there are always 3 to 4 people who don't vote. My interpretation is that they wanted to abstain." No official abstentions were recorded, however.
■ Olympics
Brothel boost upsets Swedes
The Swedish government lodged an official complaint with the International Olympic Committee and the Greek government on Thursday about Athens' policy of allowing more brothels during next year's Olympic Games. Iceland has already complained to the IOC about the plans to authorize 30 more brothels during next August's games to meet extra demand. "It is most worrying to receive information that initiatives have recently been taken in your country, in the context of the preparations for the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, that could be perceived as supportive of prostitution and brothel activities," said the letter sent by Swedish sports minister Mona Sahlin to Greek culture minister Evangelos Venizelos. "The Olympic Games were established to bring people together -- not to degrade them," the letter added.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite