■ Soccer
World Cup touts start early
Touts are already offering tickets for the 2006 World Cup in Germany even though they will not go on sale until next year, FIFA said on Thursday. A Web site was shut down after a German court, advised of the offence by soccer's world governing body, found an internet provider guilty of trying to sell the non-existent tickets. "Anybody attempting to sell tickets on the internet is taking a huge risk because the tickets have not even been printed yet," Wolfgang Niersbach, vice-chairman of the FIFA committee organizing the 2006 championships, said in a statement. FIFA said it regularly monitored Web sites for illegal offers and would not be shy from taking legal action.
■ Boxing
Klitschko brothers to fight
The Klitschko brothers will fight in the US within two weeks of each other for two vacant heavyweight titles, their promoter said on Thursday. Wladimir Klitschko will take on Lamon Brewster in Las Vegas on April 10 for the WBO title. Two weeks later, his older brother, Vitali, will fight Corrie Sanders for the WBC title. The venue for that fight still remains to be set, promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl said. The WBC title was left vacant when Lennox Lewis retired earlier this month after beating Vitali Klitschko last June in Los Angeles. Klitschko was leading Lewis on all three scorecards after six rounds before deeps cuts to his eye led the fight to be stopped. Sanders, the former WBO champion from South Africa, knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the second round last March in Germany.
■ Swimming
Ex-coach `defamed'
Former Australian national swim coach Greg Hodge was defamed by a television news program that portrayed him as a stalker, a state supreme court jury ruled yesterday. Hodge was banned last year from having contact with the national and Olympic training squads while stalking allegations against him were investigated. Emma Fuller, a 20-year-old swimmer, told a television current affairs program last October that Hodge was stalking her and that she'd applied for a restraining order. Hodge sued Channel Nine network over the program which aired Fuller's allegations that Hodge had behaved inappropriately toward her when she was a 12 and living with his family. A jury of two men and two women took 30 minutes to decide that the program had defamed Hodge. The jurors found that the program portrayed Hodge as "a pervert who had preyed upon Emma Fuller while she was a child under his care and protection" and had insinuated he was unfit to train Australia's Olympic swimmers.
■ Soccer
Blatter sticks his nose in
FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he would be happy to see one British soccer federation with Celtic and Rangers facing Manchester United and Arsenal in the same league. "It is a headache to have four British associations," Blatter was quoted as saying after watching Celtic beat Czech club Teplice 3-0 in the UEFA Cup on Thursday. "If they were together there would be a wonderful Premier League and more. But that's not up to FIFA to interfere. It is a matter for the Scottish Football Association and the English FA." England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have always had separate Football Associations.
■ Cricket
Australia all out for 233
Spin bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana shared six wickets between them yesterday as Australia slumped from a modest start to be all out for 233 in its fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka. Batting first after winning the toss, Ricky Ponting's side made a promising start amassing 28 runs for the first wicket at nearly six runs per over at Colombo's R.Premadasa Stadium. But shaky batting saw Australia slump to 3-62 by the 13th over. Later, the Australians lost their last five wickets for 32 runs to be dismissed in the 48th over. Left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa produced the initial breakthrough having Adam Gilchrist caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara for 14. Matthew Hayden perished attempting a sweep against Chaminda Vaas, only to be caught by Zoysa for 15. Legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi, returning to international cricket after serving a four-month ban, produced results with his third ball when No. 4 batsman Damien Martyn was caught at extra-cover by Zoysa.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and