■ BASEBALL
Brewers hire Randolph
Former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph has been hired as a bench coach by the Milwaukee Brewers, the team said on Saturday. Randolph, fired as the Mets manager in June, had been one of three final candidates for the Brewers managerial job that eventually went to Ken Macha. The 54-year-old Randolph played for the Brewers in 1991. After an 18-year Major League career, he served as a New York Yankees base and bench coach for 11 seasons before becoming the Mets manager in 2005.
■HOCKEY
Czechs rally to beat Sweden
The Czech Republic rallied with four goals in the final period to beat Sweden 4-1 on Saturday in the four-nation Karjala Tournament, while defending champion Russia beat Finland 6-2. Forward Alexei Mikhnov scored twice for Russia, with Alexander Radulov, Denis Kulyash, Sergei Zinoviev and Alexei Tereschenko also finding the net. In the other game, Martin Thornberg gave Sweden the lead 15:58 into the second period before the Czechs rallied with four goals in the third. Miroslav Horava and Zbynek Irgl gave the Czechs a 2-1 lead before Vaclav Nedorost made it 3-1 on a power play with five minutes left, and Petr Cajanek put the game away just a minute later. Going into yesterday’s last round, Russia leads on six points, followed by the Czech Republic on four. Finland is third with two points, while Sweden has zero.
■BOXING
‘King Arthur’ still reigns
Arthur Abraham defeated Raul Marquez by technical knockout after six rounds on Saturday to defend his IBF middleweight boxing title for the eighth time and remain undefeated. Abraham landed two rights to Marquez’s right eye in the sixth round and the challenger’s camp called off the fight just before the seventh was due to start. “King Arthur” improved his record to 28-0 with 22 knockouts while Marquez dropped to 41-4-1 with 29 knockouts.
■CYCLING
Boonen fine after accident
Former world champion Tom Boonen on Saturday escaped uninjured after being involved in a car accident en route to the Brussels airport. A Flamish TV station reported that the accident occurred when the 2005 world champion had to evade an oncoming car and ended up crashing into a tree. VTM station reported police as saying that Boonen was uninjured but that the car had been damaged. Boonen, who was banned from participating in this year’s Tour de France after testing positive for cocaine in an out of competition test, has previously been in trouble with police over traffic infringements. He was without fault on Saturday though, VTM said.
■SKATING
Kato sets 500m track record
Joji Kato of Japan set a track record to win Saturday’s 500m race at the season-opening speedskating World Cup meet. Kato timed 34.70 seconds to edge China’s Yu Fengtong, at 35.07. Finland’s Mika Poutala clocked 35.13 for third, while world record-holder Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada crashed and injured his shoulder. The Netherlands swept the first four places in the men’s 1,500m race, with Sven Kramer winning in 1 minute, 45.69 seconds. Erben Wennemars was second in 1:45.85, followed by Simon Kuipers (1:45.95) and Mark Tuitert (1:46.04). Wang Beixing of China won the women’s 500 ahead of world record-holder Jenny Wolf of Germany. Wang, who was beaten by Wolf in Friday’s 500 race, clocked 37.91 to beat Wolf by 0.03 seconds.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
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