■SOCCER
Reserves beckon Berbatov
Tottenham will dump striker Dimitar Berbatov in the reserves if Manchester United do not come up with the £30 million (US$55.3 million) they want for the 27-year-old Bulgarian striker, who has handed in a transfer request to try to force a move. With the transfer window to close on Monday, United will have to look sharp if they are to make a move for the sharpshooter, whose unsettled stance led coach Juande Ramos to leave him on the bench for Saturday’s defeat to Sunderland. Ramos deemed him psychologically unfit to play and a threat to dressing-room harmony — and media reports in London on Monday said he faced being banished from the first team altogether.
■OLYMPICS
Castro pans sports ‘mafia’
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since falling ill two years ago, on Monday defended disgraced former Olympic taekwondo champion Angel Valodia Matos. Matos and his coach were both expelled from all international competitions on Saturday, after the athlete kicked the referee in the head when he was disqualified in a match at the Beijing Games. Matos hit out at Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat as soon as he was sent off for taking too much injury time in the middle of an over-80kg bronze medal bout. But Castro called for the athlete to be reinstated and denounced what he termed “the mafia” in the sport. “Nothing can make me remain silent against the mafia. They have managed to play with the rules of the Olympic committee,” the 82-year-old Castro said. “Appalled by a decision which seemed to him totally unjust, he protested and kicked the referee. His own coach had been the subject of attempted corruption ... he was outraged, he couldn’t hold back,” Castro said.
■OLYMPICS
Gold winners get US$51,000
China’s gold medal winners at the Beijing Olympics will be taking home cash along with their medals, state media reported yesterday. Each gold medalist will get 350,000 yuan (US$51,000), Xinhua news agency said, citing China’s General Administration of Sports. Gold medal winners received 200,000 yuan after the 2004 Games, the report said. The report did not say if silver and bronze medalists were also to be rewarded.
■BOXING
Ex-champ stabbed to death
Former boxing world champion Edip Sekowitsch, 50, died of multiple stab wounds outside a pub he owned in Vienna on Monday morning, Austrian media reported. Police said they are questioning an injured man who was apprehended near the crime scene, but it is still unclear whether he is a suspect. The victim, born as Edip Secovic in Serbia, was light-middleweight world champion of the World Athletic Association is 1988. One year later, he became the European Boxing Union European champion in his weight class. Sekowitsch, known in Austria as “the Serbian bull,” owned the Champ’s Pub in Vienna.
■BASKETBALL
Sun Yue signs with Lakers
Chinese guard Sun Yue (孫悅) has signed a multi-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, the National Basketball Association club said on Monday. The 23-year-old Sun played for the Chinese team at the just completed Beijing Olympics. In six games, Sun averaged 6.8 points and 2.5 assists. The 23-year-old, 2.06m Sun was originally selected by the Lakers in the second round (40th overall) of last year’s NBA draft.
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
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two