■ Cycling
Freire wins Cyclassics
Three-time world champion Oscar Freire won the Cyclassics race on Sunday in a three-rider sprint to the finish. The Spanish rider for Rabobank captured his 48th race by covering the 243.2 kilometers through Hamburg in 5 hours, 30.02 seconds on a hot day. All the top 35 finishers shared the same time. Freire caught second-place Erik Zabel of Milran and Filippo Pozzato of Quick Step at the finish line as the trio pulled away from the pack over the last few hundred meters. "I thought I wouldn't catch Zabel," Freire said. "Some people slapped me on the back, some said Zabel had won -- I had to wait for the photo finish."
■ NFL
Commissioner finalists
Roger Goodell, the NFL's chief operating officer and one of Paul Tagliabue's chief aides, was one of five finalists announced to succeed Tagliabue as commissioner on Sunday. The 47-year-old Goodell was the only one of the five who actually works in the NFL office although another, Gregg Levy, is the league's outside counsel. That is the same job Tagliabue held when he was elected commissioner in 1989. The other three finalists are Frederick Nance, a Cleveland lawyer; Robert Reynolds, of Concord, Massachusetts, the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Fidelity Investments; and Mayo Shattuck of Baltimore, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Constellation Energy.
■ Soccer
Lyon win Champions Trophy
French league champions Lyon won the Champions Trophy season-opener for the fifth straight year on Sunday, beating French Cup winner Paris Saint-Germain in a penalty shootout. With the score 1-1 at the end of regulation, Lyon won 5-4 on penalties after Ivory Coast midfielder Bonaventure Kalou missed PSG's last shot. John Carew, Jeremy Toulalan, Hatem Ben Arfa, Karim Benzema and Mahmadou Diarra all converted their penalties for Lyon.
■ Soccer
Lerner vague on Aston Villa
Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner's interest in purchasing English Premier League club Aston Villa will never match his passion for his NFL team. "It will fundamentally and will always be a privilege," Lerner said on Saturday. "You know, it's the Browns." Lerner spent about 10 minutes discussing the state of his NFL team on Saturday. Lerner, who prefers to stay out of the spotlight, addressed several topics, including his reported pursuit of Aston Villa. Lerner was vague on his interest in buying the English club. "There are opportunities, but they are nothing more than opportunities right now," Lerner said. "My concern is if I put myself in a position to try and speak clearly on it I'm going to be misleading."
■ Rugby Union
Stricter rules for Islanders
The Pacific Islanders rugby team which will tour Britain in November will be made up exclusively of players who have chosen to play for Fiji, Tonga or Samoa, the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance has ruled. The first Islanders team, which played matches against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in 2004, included players such as Sione Lauaki and Sitiveni Sivivatu who went on to play for the New Zealand All Blacks. PIRA chief executive Sakopo Lolohea said eligibility rules for this year's team would be changed to ensure the Islanders tour served the development of Pacific Islands rugby. "The team will definitely not be selected as in 2004," Lolohea said.
■ Field Hockey
Netherlands take trophy
The Netherlands beat Germany 2-1 on Sunday to capture the men's Champions Trophy in field hockey for a record-tying eighth time after going unbeaten in the six-nation tournament. Taeke Taekema scored on his second penalty corner, spearing a flick through the German defense to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead. Three minutes before the break, Teun de Nooijer, the reigning World Hockey Player of the Year, scored with a brilliant individual effort from the top of the circle. Germany captain Timo Wess scored with a penalty corner variation five minutes after halftime. Spain took the bronze medal by beating defending champion Australia 5-4 on penalty strokes after a 2-2 draw. Pakistan defeated Argentina 3-1 to take fifth place.
■ Swimming
Maurer wins 25km open
Angela Maurer of Germany won the women's 25km open water event on Sunday, her second gold medal at the European Swimming Championships. Also, the Russians completed their sweep of all four synchronized swimming events, winning Sunday's duet, team and combined events. Natalia Ishchenko of Russia had won the solo event on Saturday. Maurer, who also won the 10km event last Thursday, gave Germany its fourth gold of the championships, tying Russia at the top of the medals table.
■ Cricket
Aussies want to play in Asia
Australia is hoping to use Singapore and Malaysia as venues for a limited-overs series involving India and the West Indies leading into the ICC Champions Trophy. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he was aiming for a mid-September timeframe, giving the three teams valuable warmup matches before the Champions Trophy in India. It would be exciting to bring the game to newer cricketing frontiers and to showcase some of the best players in the world," he said. Australia has won the last two cricket World Cups and is No. 1 in both limited-overs and test rankings.
■ Shooting
Russia take team title
Artem Khadjibekov won the men's 50m rifle 3-position event and led Russia to the team title at the world shooting championships on Sunday. Also, Zhang Penghui won the men's 25m rapid fire pistol and spearheaded China's comfortable win in the team's event. Khadjibekov topped qualifying for the 3P final with the best score from the kneeling position, 396 out of 400 in a total of 1,176. In the final, he scored only 97.5 but his combined score of 1,273.5 was enough to edge Stevan Pletikosic of Serbia-Montenegro, who shot 98.1 for 1,269.1. Zhang Lei of China scored 98.4 in the final to rise from fifth to third.
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