■ Golf
Singh blasts to top
World No. 2 Vijay Singh birdied the first three holes to forge clear of the field and then coasted to a three-shot victory in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on Sunday. With a final-round 69, Singh completed the tournament on 16-under-par 272, three strokes in front of Jeff Maggert. Phil Mickelson finished alone in third place a further shot back. Canada's Mike Weir, South Korea's K.J. Choi and third-round joint-leader Arron Oberholser tied for fourth on 279. Singh, who earned US$954,000 for the victory, extended his streak of top-10 finishes to 12 tournaments dating back last August's WGC-NEC invitational. Jack Nicklaus holds the PGA Tour record of 14, a mark set in 1977. The Fijian has three victories and six other top-five finishes in the streak, is a combined 146-under-par and US$5,016,683 richer.
■ Rugby Union
Wilkinson eyes comeback
Ruled out of the entire Six Nations championship due to injury, Jonny Wilkinson says he will come back stronger and fitter than ever. The England flyhalf, whose drop goal seconds from the end of extra time against Australia clinched a historic World Cup triumph, has played less than hour's rugby since the Nov. 22 victory in Sydney. Wilkinson, who has been suffering from a damaged nerve which affects both his neck and shoulder, will undergo surgery tomorrow in Newcastle. "I'm getting very excited about having six or seven weeks off and being able to throw everything into preparation," he said. "I can do that uninterrupted and really plan for coming back stronger and fitter than I've ever, ever been."
■ Olympics
Athens warns contractors
The Greek government will begin looking for a new contractor to improve the Olympic marathon route if the company working on the project fails to overcome delays, a senior minister said yesterday. European Technical SA, the company widening portions of the 42km route between Athens and the village of Marathon, said last week that it was unable to pay workers nearly US$1.25 million because of problems with a bank. Athens Stock Exchange authorities said yesterday they were monitoring European Technical shares and had placed the company "under supervision." Disgruntled workers, led by truck drivers, have disrupted traffic for 11 days and caused massive jams along the route to Marathon, which gives the race its name. "If the work does not progress, we will enforce legal procedures, we will rescind the contract from the company and will proceed to appoint a new company," Nasos Alevras, deputy minister in charge of Olympic construction projects, said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later