■ Cricket
Slow-bowling Sri Lanka fined
The captain of Sri Lanka's cricket team, Mahela Jayawardene, has been fined for his team's slow over rate against India in Sunday's one-day international. The Dubai-based International Cricket Council said on Monday that Jayawardene was fined 20 percent of his match fee after a hearing conducted by ICC referee Alan Hurst. The other players in the Sri Lankan team were each fined 10 percent of their match fees for the same offense during the game at Rajkot, India, which Sri Lanka won by five runs. Sri Lanka leads the five-match series 1-0, with the first one-dayer abandoned owing to heavy showers.
■ Olympics
Koreas discuss single team
Sports officials from the two Koreas met yesterday to discuss forming a single team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a South Korean official said. During the one-day meeting in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the two sides hoped to make progress on fielding a unified team, the official with South Korea's Olympic committee said on customary condition of anonymity. The rival Koreas, which have never fielded a unified team for an Olympics, are still at odds over how to compose a single team for the Beijing Olympics since their agreement to do so in 2005. South Korea has insisted athletes should be selected based on performance, while the North wants equal representation. Athletes from South Korea and North Korea marched together at the opening ceremonies of the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, and at the 2002 and 2006 Asian Games, but competed separately.
■ Tennis
Gaudio, Moya fall in Brazil
Former French Open champions Gaston Gaudio and Carlos Moya were eliminated in the first round of the Brasil Open in Costa Do Sauipe, Brazil, on Monday. Despite 11 aces, fourth-seeded Moya fell to Thiago Alves of Brazil 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 after serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Fifth-seeded Gaudio lost to Potito Starace of Italy 6-4, 6-3, his seventh consecutive defeat since the third round of the US Open last September. Gaudio was the top-seeded player last year in Costa do Sauipe, but was eliminated in the second round. On Monday he served five double faults and landed only 60 percent of his first serves. Starace, ranked 85th, had lost three first-round matches coming into the tournament. Spain's Alberto Martin, runner-up the last two years, was ousted by sixth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-2. Nicolas Massu, last year's champion, withdrew last week because of a right-leg muscle injury.
■ Cricket
Black Caps list line-up
New Zealand yesterday named their 15-man squad for cricket's World Cup starting in the Caribbean on March 13: Stephen Fleming (captain), Daniel Vettori (vice-captain), Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Brendon McCullum, Craig McMillan, Michael Mason, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.
■ Cricket
Baggy Greens name squad
Australia yesterday named their 15-man squad for cricket's World Cup starting in the Caribbean on March 13: Australia -- Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist (vice-captain), Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson.
■ Basketball
Riley to resume coaching
Pat Riley will resume coaching the Miami Heat following the All-Star break, an official within the NBA said on Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Riley has not formally announced his plans. Riley is expected to announce his return at a news conference today in Miami. His first game back would be on Feb. 21 against Houston. Riley left the team on Jan. 3 because of ongoing hip and knee problems, both which required surgery. He had a procedure to repair cartilage in his right knee on Jan. 5, then hip replacement surgery on Jan. 11.
■ Baseball
Liberty Media to buy Braves
Time Warner finalized an agreement to sell the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media on Monday after more than a year of negotiations. The deal, which values the team at US$450 million, was submitted to Major League Baseball for its approval process, two people familiar with the deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The parties hope the league will approve the sale in time for the team to be transferred by opening day on April 1, the source said. Under the agreement, Terry McGuirk will remain in charge of the team after the sale. General manager John Schuerholz and manager Bobby Cox also are expected to remain, the source said.
■ Baseball
Rivera could leave Yanks
As the New York Yankees prepared to start spring training without Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera talked about the possibility of not being with the team a year from now. Rivera will get US$10.5 million this season, the option year of a contract paying him US$31.5 million over three seasons. He is eligible to become a free agent after the World Series. "If they want to talk, we're willing to listen," Rivera said on Monday following a pre-spring training workout. "But I'm going to bring nothing to the table. I'm just going to focus on what I have to do and see what happens. I have a contract for this year. That's what matters. All I have to do is focus on this season."
■ Baseball
Matsuzaka draws crowd
Daisuke Matsuzaka arrived for Boston Red Sox spring training accompanied by crowds of reporters, photographers and television crews who flocked to Florida to chronicle the US$100 million Japanese ace's landing. "I have a few days left before camp officially starts," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter during a five-minute interview session. "My excitement has not reached its peak, but I would love to meet my teammates." Matsuzaka agreed to play for the Red Sox after bumpy negotiations led to a US$52 million, six-year contract.
■ Olympics
Protesters disrupt event
Police dragged a protester off the stage and officers tackled a woman with a bandanna over her face during a ceremony marking the three-year countdown to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver on Monday. Despite heavy security at the downtown event with dozens of officers in yellow jackets, including some on horseback and in riot gear, one protester managed to leap onto the stage and push the master of ceremonies out of the way. The protester shouted obscenities into the microphone before being dragged off by officers.
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