■ BASEBALL
Trainer beefs up legal team
Trainer Brian McNamee is adding a prominent New York attorney to his legal team as he tries to fight claims by Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens that McNamee lied when naming the ace a dope cheat. The New York Times reported on Saturday that Richard Emery, who in October won a major settlement in a case regarding inmates being strip-searched, is set to assist McNamee's legal team in defending McNamee in allegations by Clemens. McNamee, who worked with New York Yankees pitchers Clemens and Andy Petitte for years, revealed in the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball earlier this month that both pitchers had used performance-enhancing drugs.
■ CRICKET
Pietersen marries pop singer
England cricket star Kevin Pietersen married pop singer Jessica Taylor in a private ceremony on Saturday, a spokesman said. Hampshire batsman Pietersen and Taylor, who topped the British singles charts with her former band Liberty X, married at St. Andrew's Church in the picturesque village of Castle Combe in Wiltshire, south-west England. Henry Jacob of The Outside Organization, which represents both the 27-year-olds, said: "We can confirm that today Kevin Pietersen and Jessica Taylor were married. "The private wedding was attended by close family, relatives and friends of the couple. They are now going away on their honeymoon and will return to the UK in January."
■ ICE HOCKEY
Sweden beats Canada 4-3
Tobias Forsberg scored with seven seconds left to help Sweden edge defending champion Canada 4-3 on Saturday and move atop Group A at the Under-20 World Ice Hockey Championship. Sweden leads the group with nine points from three games, Canada has six. The winner of each group directly qualifies for the semi-finals, while the second and third teams advance to the quarterfinals to play for the two remaining semi-final spots. Canada wasted a two goal lead after Brand Marschand scored the opening goal 55 seconds before the first period's end and Shawn Matthias made it 2-0 2:17 into the third period. Sweden rallied on goals by Eric Moe, Tony Lagerstrom and Oscar Moller.
■ SOCCER
Cagliari finds new coach
Serie A tailenders Cagliari ended their farcical search for a coach on Saturday by appointing Davide Ballardini. Ballardini takes over at the relegation-threatened Sardinian based club after a 10-day period which saw former coach Nedo Sonetti briefly resume his post following the refusal of his predecessor Marco Giampaolo to take the job. "Cagliari would like to announce that Davide Ballardini is the new coach," said a statement on the club's Web site. "He replaces Nedo Sonetti, whom the club would like to thank for the very professional manner in which he carried out his duties.
■ SOCCER
Antlers beat Frontale 1-0
New J-League champions Kashima Antlers neared a Japanese football double on Saturday when they beat Kawasaki Frontale 1-0 in the Emperor's Cup semi-finals. Kashima will clash with relegation-bound Hiroshima Sanfrecce, who beat J-League Cup winners Gamba Osaka 3-1 in the other semi-final, tomorrow for the title of the traditional tournament, which is also open to amateur teams. Masashi Motoyama scored the winner for Kashima at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
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