■ RUGBY UNION
Deans puts his hand up
Canterbury Crusaders rugby coach Robbie Deans said yesterday he was interested in coaching the All Blacks and was no longer a candidate for the Australia coaching job. Both New Zealand and Australia were eliminated in the quarter-finals of last month's Rugby World Cup and Deans emerged as a leading candidate for the Wallabies coaching position vacated by John Connolly, and the All Blacks position, the future of which is uncertain. The New Zealand Rugby Union is awaiting the outcome of an independent inquiry into New Zealand's World Cup failure before deciding whether the incumbent, Graham Henry, will be reappointed.
■ SOCCER
Player scandal probed
South Korean soccer officials are investigating revelations that four senior players, including captain Lee Woon-jae and Middlesbrough striker Lee Dong-guk, were involved in drinking and visiting prostitutes ahead of an important Asian Cup match in July. Seoul-based news Web site Newsis reported this week that Lee Woon-jae, Kim Sang-sik, Woo Sung-yong and Middlesbrough striker Lee Dong-guk drank until the early hours of July 14 at a brothel in Jakarta, where the national team was based. On July 15, South Korea suffered an upset, 2-1 loss to Bahrain in Jakarta to drop to the bottom of Group D.
■ SOCCER
Midfielder's brother nabbed
Armed assailants kidnapped a teenage brother of Wilson Palacios, the Honduran midfielder for English Premier League club Birmingham, on Tuesday, authorities said. Edwin Rene Palacios, 15, was abducted from his home in La Ceiba, 350km north of Tegucigalpa on the country's Atlantic coast, Public Safety Department spokesman Hector Ivan Mejia said. "The family has asked us not to get involved, but the police are going to investigate the kidnapping," Mejia said. The kidnappers forced the door open violently and left the boy's parents bound and locked up in a room, Mejia added. He did not know if the kidnappers had demanded a ransom.
■ BOXING
Defectors win first bouts
Cuban defectors and 2004 Olympic gold medalists Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy won their first professional fights in the US on Tuesday. Gamboa scored a sixth-round technical knockout over Brazil's Adailton De Jesus at the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida, an hour after Barthelemy won a unanimous decision over Kevin Hudgins on the same card. Gamboa's speed and power overwhelmed De Jesus during their junior-lightweight bout. Early in the sixth, Gamboa (7-0, 6 KOs) rocked De Jesus with a right to the head. A staggered De Jesus retreated to a corner, where Gamboa followed with a flurry of unanswered combinations. Referee Frank Santore stopped the bout 35 seconds into the round.
■ CRICKET
Younis appointed deputy
Pakistan yesterday appointed Younis Khan as deputy to captain Shoaib Malik for the tour of India starting later this week. Younis replaces opener Salman Butt, who lost his place in the final eleven because of poor batting form. Butt did not play in any of the five-match one-day series against South Africa which ended in the tourists' 3-2 win on Monday. The 29-year-old Younis refused to lead Pakistan when he was offered the captaincy following Inzamam-ul Haq's resignation in March.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite