■ Soccer
Milan tightens grip
Dutch international Clarence Seedorf scored twice as AC Milan tightened their grip at the top of Serie A with a convincing 3-1 win at champions Juventus on Sunday. European champions Milan have a seven-point lead over second-placed Roma, who drew 0-0 with Reggina, while Juventus trail the leaders by nine points with nine games of the season remaining. Seedorf created Milan's opener in the 25th minute, providing a perfect cross for Andriy Shevchenko who thundered a header past Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon. The Dutchman then made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute with a deflected shot from 20m out before striking again as he finished off a counter-attack with a blistering left-foot shot after Cafu had found him unmarked on the edge of the area.
■ Soccer
Leicester players to pay fees
Leicester City has told the three players facing sexual assault charges in Spain that they will have to arrange and pay for their own legal defense. Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie returned to training yesterday as the club pursued an internal investigation into the players' conduct during a midseason training camp in southeastern Spain. The three were freed on bail on Friday after spending a week in jail in Murcia following allegations by three women. The players paid their own bail, totaling US$354,000, and remain under investigation by a Spanish judge. The three, who deny the charges, did not play in Saturday's 1-0 win over Birmingham -- a result which lifted the Foxes out of the relegation zone. Manager Micky Adams said he would consider picking them for this weekend's match against Everton.
■ Soccer
Livingston win League Cup
Livingston clinched their first major trophy with a 2-0 victory over premier league rivals Hibernian in the Scottish League Cup final on Sunday. Derek Lilley struck the opener after 50 minutes before Jamie McAllister sped clear to score the second just two minutes later to demoralize a young Hibs side that had enjoyed the better of the first half. Livingston became the first club other than Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers to win a domestic trophy in Scotland since Hearts beat Rangers 2-1 in the 1998 Scottish Cup final. Their success comes a month after they were placed in administration with an estimated debt of <<10 million pounds>>. They are the first British club to compete in a major cup final while in administration and are in line to complete a unique double, with a home Scottish Cup quarterfinal replay against Aberdeen on Thursday.
■ Soccer
Thaksin notches up interest
Thailand's tycoon-turned-prime minister is negotiating to buy a stake in the English Premier League club Liverpool after Fulham spurned his advances late last year, a Thai soccer official said yesterday. The talks between Liverpool and a group of investors headed by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra are still in the preliminary phase, said Thavatchai Sajakul, Thai national team manager and adviser to the prime minister. "They [Liverpool] have shown some gestures that they want us to take part. They want to sell to us, and we want to buy," Thavatchai said by telephone. "We've expressed our interest that we want to be part of their club. ... We're still in the phase of unofficial negotiations."
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