■ ICE HOCKEY
Steven Stamkos top pick
Steven Stamkos led a charge by Ontario Hockey League prospects becoming the first overall pick in the National Hockey League’s entry draft on Friday. The Tampa Bay Lightning made Canada’s Stamkos the top pick and the third player drafted first overall in franchise history. Stamkos saw some familiar company, as the next three picks also came from the Ontario Hockey League. Defenseman Drew Doughty of the Guelph Storm was selected second by the Los Angeles Kings, followed by fellow blue-liners Zach Bogosian of the Petersborough Petes and Alex Pietrangelo of the Niagara IceDogs. Bogosian was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers, while Pietrangelo went to the St. Louis Blues. The Toronto Maple Leafs, who moved up from the seventh pick via a trade with the New York Islanders, selected defenseman Luke Schenn from the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets fifth overall. The Columbus Blue Jackets grabbed left wing Nikita Filatov of the Russian Junior League’s CSKA 2 with the sixth pick.
■ CYCLING
Kirchen holds on to lead
Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara, of the CSC team, powered to victory at the seventh stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Friday, but Kim Kirchen kept the leader’s yellow jersey. “I wasn’t expecting it today, but it’s true I wanted to win a stage on the Tour of Switzerland,” Cancellara said of the Gruyeres-to-Lyss leg. Belgian duo Johan von Summeren and Sebastien Rosseleras, and Germany’s Ronny Scholz set the pace early when they made the day’s biggest break after 61km. That long attack was eventually closed down 15km from the line, when they handed over the race to their respective team sprinters. But the transition was not quick enough and the sprinters left a gap that Cancellara — who has tasted Tour de France stage glory on three occasions — took full and swift advantage of. Cancellara then surged away from the main group with 9km left to run.
■ BASEBALL
Blue Jays axe Gibbons
Manager John Gibbons was fired by the last-place Toronto Blue Jays on Friday and replaced by Cito Gaston, who led the team to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. The Blue Jays began the day at 35-39, having lost five straight and 13 of their last 17 games to fall 10.5 games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in the American League East. He is the third major league manager to be fired this week, following Willie Randolph of the New York Mets and John McLaren of the Seattle Mariners. Gibbons, who became manager midway through the 2004 season, had a record of 305-305 with the Blue Jays. His best season was in 2006, when the Blue Jays went 87-75 to finish second in the AL East.
The Jays, who were in Pittsburgh to open a weekend series against the Pirates, also fired three of Gibbons’ coaches — Marty Pevey, Ernie Whitt and Gary Denbo.
■ MARTIAL ARTS
Akebono touts K-1 in Hawaii
After failing to impress in the K-1 ring, retired sumo grand champion Akebono will look to make his mark as a promoter of the mixed martial arts sport. Akebono will serve as a promoter of the K-1 World GP in his native Hawaii on Aug. 9, the Nikkan Sports newspaper reported on Friday. Akebono, whose real name is Chad Haaheo Rowan, became the first foreign wrestler to reach sumo’s highest rank of yokozuna before retiring in 2001 and briefly serving as a sumo trainer. He took up a career in K-1 in 2003, but managed only one win in 13 bouts.
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