■SOCCER
Fan shoots and kills player
An Iraqi fan shot dead a player of the opposing team as he tried to score an equalizing goal in the final minutes of a match, police said on Monday. The shooting on Saturday in Hilla, 100km south of Baghdad, during a match between local teams underscored the country’s propensity to lawlessness even as violence by militant groups falls to lows not seen since mid-2003. “As soon as Haider Kadhim [the player] was alone in front of the goalkeeper and close to equalizing, a fan in the crowd fired a pistol at him,” said a senior police officer in Hilla, who declined to be named. “We arrested this fan immediately, but unfortunately the player died,” he said. Iraqis love soccer and have often expressed hope the game would help reconcile warring ethnic groups and sects.
■SWIMMING
Jackson sets world record
Jo Jackson set a world record in the women’s 400m freestyle at the British swimming championships on Monday. The 22-year-old Olympic bronze medalist finished in 4 minutes, 0.66 seconds, lowering Federica Pellegrini’s mark by almost a second. Pellegrini swam 4 minutes, 1.53 seconds at an Italian meet earlier this month. Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington finished second, also under the old mark, touching in 4 minutes, 0.89 seconds. “To get a world record has just blown me away and for Becky to go under the world record as well, I’m so happy,” Jackson said. “I knew it was going to be so tough coming here because Becky is swimming amazing. She really pushed me there, I wanted it so much. I’ve never had the British record in the 400, so it’s my first British record in the 400 and the world record. It’s not a bad one.”
■CYCLING
Scarponi takes the lead
Michele Scarponi took the overall lead in the Tirreno-Adriatico from Andreas Kloeden of Germany after winning the longest and the penultimate stage of the race on Monday. The Italian rider with the Diquigiovanni-Androni team out-sprinted Stefano Garzelli and Ivan Basso in an uphill finish after the three broke away on a major climb with 40km to go. Scarponi finished in 6 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds in the 235km leg from Civitanova Marche to Camerino. Scarponi now holds a 25-second lead over Garzelli in the overall standings, with Kloeden — who won Sunday’s time trial — 1 minute, 7 seconds behind in third.
■SOCCER
England bid for 2018, 2022
The Football Association (FA) will bid to stage the World Cup in England in either 2018 or 2022, it was announced on Monday. Countries were asked by world soccer’s governing body FIFA to bid for one of the two tournaments or submit proposals to stage both events. The FA handed in their plans at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on Monday. Afterwards, England bid and FA chairman Lord David Triesman issued a statement, saying: “Today marks another step forward on our journey to bring the FIFA World Cup to England and our team are focused on delivering the best bid possible to FIFA.”
■BASEBALL
Cano scan reveals bursitis
Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano had an MRI on Monday that found bursitis in his right shoulder and he could play the field on Friday. Cano will pinch hit or be a designated hitter until then. He had a pinch-single during the sixth inning of New York’s 12-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday. “It feels better,” Cano said. “I’ll be ready in a few days.”
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