■ NETHERLANDS
Alkmaar win to go clear
Ari’s second-half goal gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 win at Feyenoord on Saturday and put them clear at the top of the Dutch league. Mounir El Hamdaoui ran past Timothy Derijck and fed Ari for the winning goal in the 56th minute, giving AZ their first win at Feyenoord in four years. AZ are unbeaten in 13 league matches as they bid to become the first club to win the Eredivisie crown outside the trio of Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord in nearly 30 years. Also on Saturday, SC Heerenveen beat struggling De Graafschap 2-0 after two goals from Roy Beerens. It was the first time this season that Heerenven did not concede a goal at home. Marcel Meeuwis scored in the 46th minute to cancel out Karim Soltani’s first-half goal and give ADO The Hague a 1-1 draw against Roda JC, while NEC Nijmegen won 2-1 at Willem II.
■ GREECE
Larissa hold Olympiakos
Larissa’s Nolberto Solano was sent off for celebrating his equalizer in a 1-1 home draw with Greek champions and league leaders Olympiakos on Saturday. The Peruvian midfielder scored in the 75th minute, but his lengthy celebrations led to a second yellow card of the game, followed by a red. Fernando Belluschi had given Olympiakos the lead in the 52nd minute. The draw, combined with Saturday’s 1-0 home win for second-place PAOK over Xanthi, cut Olympiakos’ lead from six to four points at the top of the 16-team standings. Also on Saturday, Iraklis beat Asteras 2-1 away.
■ SCOTLAND
Old Firm held to draws
Stephen McManus equalized for Celtic to draw 1-1 with Hearts on Saturday and maintain their four-point lead over Rangers after the defending champions’ Glasgow rivals were held 2-2 at Dundee United. Celtic’s Georgios Samaras headed Shunsuke Nakamura’s cross back across goal and McManus nodded the ball into the net from close range in the 79th minute. Andrew Driver put Hearts ahead in the 23rd minute, diverting midfielder Laryea Kingston’s low strike past goalkeeper Artur Boruc from 10m and he was denied a second just before the break. Celtic top the standings with 44 points, while Rangers have 40 after needing substitute Kyle Lafferty to score in the second half at Dundee United to salvage a draw.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Ajax win League Cup
Ajax Cape Town survived a stoppage-time scare to edge Orlando Pirates 2-1 on Saturday and win the South African League Cup a second time. Substitute Bennett Chenene squandered a glorious chance to take a match watched by a capacity 22,000 crowd into extra-time after he fired well wide with only goalkeeper Andre Petim to beat. The result left former African champions Pirates without a major domestic cup success since 1996, while the previous League Cup victory of Ajax eight years ago also came against the Buccaneers. Striker Mabhuti Khenyeza scored twice within 16 minutes of the kick-off. Pirates substitute Siphelele Mthembu reduced the arrears on 74 minutes.
■ UNITED STATES
llertson nets in US win
Tina Ellertson scored her first goal for the US in a 1-0 victory over China in a women’s soccer international friendly on Saturday. Ellertson, who gave birth in May and missed the Olympics in Beijing, scored in the 61st minute. Amy Rodriguez took Shannon Boxx’s pass on the left wing, beat defender Liu Huana and crossed to Ellertson, who converted from 6m inside the right post.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later