■ Speedskating
New world record set
Jin Sun-yu of South Korea set a world record in the women's 1,000m, and Apolo Anton Ohno of the US captured his second gold medal Sunday at a World Cup short-track speedskating meet in Bormio, Italy. Jin finished her race in 1 minute, 30.037 seconds, beating Yang Yang of China and Tatiana Borodulina of Russia in the final. The previous record of 1:30.171 had been set by China's Wang Meng at Hangzhou on Oct. 2. Ohno, the Olympic champion at the 2002 Games, won the 3,000 in 5:44.636, beating Lee Ho-suk and Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea. Ohno, who ended the three-day meet with two golds and one bronze, capped his impressive weekend by also taking the overall title with 86 points, 10 ahead of Lee.
■ Sailing
Racers forced to return
Three yachts in the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race suffered storm damage during the first day at sea and two were making for port on Sunday. Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar were both expected to try and repair damage in port -- movistar in Cadiz on the southwestern tip of Spain and Pirates of the Caribbean most likely in Lisbon, Portugal -- a spokeswoman for the race said. "Pirates is taking in water and movistar has damage to its swinging, or canting, keel," race press officer Lizzie Green said by telephone. Premier Challenge of Australia also suffered storm damage and had reduced speed but could yet be able to make running repairs. The damaged yachts were about 200km out at sea at 5:30pm and would take about 10 hours to make it to port.
■ Rugby
Umaga supports Kiwi bid
All Blacks captain Tana Umaga will join New Zealand's last-minute push this week to win hosting rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Umaga will be part of the team which will make New Zealand's final pitch to the International Rugby Board, which will decide in Dublin on Thursday where the 2011 tournament will be staged. Japan, South Africa and New Zealand are vying to host the seventh world tournament. Umaga will take time out from the All Blacks' preparation for Saturday's test against England in London to outline the benefits of the New Zealand bid from a player's perspective, the New Zealand Rugby Union said in a statement on Monday. The New Zealand bid team will include Prime Minister Helen Clark and three All Blacks captains -- Umaga, Colin Meads and Sir Brian Lochore.
■ Cricket
England leads Pakistan
England's opening batsman Marcus Trescothick missed a deserved double century in Multan, Pakistan on Monday, but guided his team to a big first innings lead against Pakistan on the third day of the first cricket test. Trescothick spearheaded England to 418 with a fantastic knock of 193 before England was bowled out an hour after lunch. It gave England a lead of 144 after Pakistan was dismissed for 274 in its first innings. Trescothick then grabbed a two-handed catch in the first slip to dismiss opener Shoaib Malik (18) as Pakistan went for tea at 64 for 1. Vice-captain Younis Khan was batting on 24 while Salman Butt was not out on 20.
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