■ SOCCER
Maradona, Third World hero
Diego Maradona hit the big screen in Cannes on Tuesday in an exuberant documentary by Serbian director Emir Kusturica depicting him as a rebel fighting Western imperialism first through soccer, now through friendship with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Maradona is perhaps best known for his role in knocking England out of the 1986 World Cup in a 2-1 victory. For Kusturica, that victory was a triumph by the Third World over the West, which he said imposes its rule on countries like Argentina and Serbia using weapons such as the IMF and NATO bombs.
■ OLYMPICS
Facilities damaged in China
No athletes were injured, but sports facilities were seriously damaged by China’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, state media reported yesterday. Twenty athletes expected to take part in the Beijing Olympics in August were training in the province when the quake struck, but all were safe, Sichuan sports officials told Xinhua news agency. A new gymnasium, a swimming pool and a stadium in Wenchuan, the epicenter of last Monday’s quake, were all wiped out. A 3,000-seat gymnasium in Jiangyou City was also destroyed by the quake. All of the provincial-level athletes were away from the worst-hit areas and they made a quick escape from the buildings when the disaster happened, officials said.
■ GOLF
Faldo wants Montgomerie
European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo thinks he’ll have a spot for Colin Montgomerie on this year’s team if the player can pull out of a recent slump. Montgomerie has an unbeaten singles record in his eight Ryder Cup appearances, but has struggled this year, failing to qualify for the Masters last month while falling to 90th on the world rankings. “I firmly believe Monty will turn it around. I certainly haven’t counted that out,” Faldo said on Tuesday ahead of the BMW PGA Championship which begins at Wentworth, England, today. “He has a great way of producing the goods when really needed. A player of his ability has enough time to make it happen,” Faldo said.
■ SOCCER
Kirin Cup opens today
Japan take on Ivory Coast and Paraguay in the annual Kirin Cup soccer tournament, hoping to set up a platform for their crunch World Cup qualifiers next month. Japan will play Ivory Coast on Saturday in Toyota and Paraguay on Tuesday in Saitama, while the visitors face each other in today’s opener in Yokohama. Japan coach Takeshi Okada, who took charge of the side after Ivica Osim’s life-threatening stroke in November, sees the games as a useful work-out ahead of the qualifiers against Oman, Thailand and Bahrain.
■ SOCCER
Swiss neutrality tested
Switzerland is staying true to its tradition of neutrality during the Euro 2008 championships with the organizers taking pains to avoid mixing sport and politics. The tournament kicks off just one week after a controversial referendum on how Switzerland grants naturalization status to foreigners. The far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has plastered the country’s railway stations and other public spaces with a poster showing dark-skinned hands grasping for a pile of Swiss passports under the single word “No!” But when asked whether they feared the campaign portrayed a negative image of Switzerland just when thousands of foreign fans are set to descend on the country, tourism nor soccer authorities refused to comment.
■ OLYMPICS
HK creates '6-star' facilities
Hong Kong has spared no expense in providing state-of-the-art facilities for this summer’s Olympic equestrian events, and organizers insist they have taken every step to counter the sweltering heat. From the “six-star” newly built stables to a pleasure park, the Hong Kong Jockey Club has spent more than HK$1.2 billion (US$150 million) making sure the 200 visiting horses are provided with every comfort. The event was switched from Beijing to the southern city because of fears of disease, and has given the horse racing-mad city a chance to show that it can embrace a different form of equine competition.
■ SOCCER
Van Persie ready for Euro
Arsenal striker Robin van Persie boosted Dutch hopes of landing their second European title on Tuesday when he said he believed he would be fully fit by the time Euro 2008 starts on June 7. However, there are many who think that, should he not convince coach Marco van Basten by May 28 of his fitness, then he will be one of the three players who will be cut as there are presently 26 in the squad, and the limit is 23. The 24-year-old was bedevilled with injuries during the Premiership campaign but insisted that he could get back to top form as the Netherlands attempt to add the 2008 trophy to the one that their 1988 predecessors won.
■ FOOTBALL
Super Bowl going to Indiana
Indianapolis was awarded the 2012 Super Bowl on Tuesday, the fourth time a cold-weather city will host the football championship game. The city was a runner-up last year to Dallas, but Tuesday beat out Houston and Phoenix for the game, which will be played on Feb. 5, 2012, for the championship of the 2011 season. Part of the bid includes a pledge by the city to build a practice facility downtown that will be left in place for local residents to use. The next two Super Bowls are in Tampa, Florida, and Miami. Of the 42 Super Bowls, the three played indoors in cold-weather cities were in 1982 and 2006 in Detroit and in 1992 in Minneapolis.
■ FOOTBALL
Falcons sign QB Ryan
Matt Ryan signed a US$72 million, six-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday, ending concerns that prolonged negotiations could threaten his chance to become the National Football League club’s starting quarterback as a rookie. Ryan, the No. 3 overall pick in last month’s NFL draft out of Boston College, is guaranteed US$34.75 million. His guaranteed money is US$4.75 million more than that given to Jake Long, the No. 1 overall choice who is also represented by agent Tom Condon.
■ SKI JUMPING
Women sue Olympic body
A group of women ski jumpers are set to file a lawsuit against the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee in an attempt to include their sport in the 2010 Winter Olympics. A statement of claim will be filed in British Columbia Supreme Court yesterday, Deedee Corradini of Women’s Ski Jumping USA told the Canadian Press. The group bringing the suit includes American and European athletes. They are frustrated the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not include women’s ski jumping on the program for the 2010 Games. Earlier this year, IOC president Jacques Rogge said including the event in the games would dilute the medals being handed out to other athletes because there are so few women ski jumpers in the world.
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