■ICE HOCKEY
Raptors to face Wolves
The match-up for the fifth Chinese Taipei Ice Hockey League (CIHL) Championship has been set as the Hsinchu Raptors dispatched the Taichung Lions and the Taipei Wolves beat the Taipei Rhinos in the weekend’s semi-final series. Both victorious teams were able to vanquish their opposition in two straight games. The puck drops on game 1 of the fifth CIHL Championship finals on Friday at 9:15pm. Game two of the best-of-three series will be played on Saturday at 9:15pm and, if necessary, game three will take place on Sunday at 7:45pm. All games will be played at Taipei Arena and admission is free.
■BOXING
Former champ Page dies
Former heavyweight boxing champion Greg Page died at his Kentucky home on Monday, his wife Patricia Page said. He was 50. Page suffered a severe brain injury eight years ago at a fight in Louisville and his wife said he died of complications from that fight. Page was in a coma for a week following the March 2001 World Boxing Association title fight. He suffered a stroke during post-fight surgery and was paralyzed on his left side and received intensive physical therapy. Page was 42 and had a 58-16-1 career record going into the fight against 24-year-old Dale Crowe. Page hit the canvas after 10 rounds and didn’t get up. Page won a US$1.2 million suit two years ago over the lack of medical help at the match.
■GOLF
PGA Tour elevates HSBC
The International Federation of PGA Tours says the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai will be elevated to the level of an elite World Golf Championship event. PGA TOURS announced yesterday that prize money for the tournament will be increased by US$2 million to US$7 million and there will be a revised qualifying criteria. Defending champion Sergio Garcai will also be back at Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Club. Tiger Woods has already announced he will play the HSBC Champions in early November.
■RUGBY UNION
Karl Mullen dead at 82
Ireland’s 1948 Grand Slam-winning captain Karl Mullen has died at the age of 82, just over a month after seeing Ireland end a 61-year wait to win the Six Nations clean sweep again. Mullen made his Ireland debut against France in 1947 and went on to win 25 caps, leading his country to the 1948 Five Nations Grand Slam and the Triple Crown a year later. In 1950 he was named captain for the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia and New Zealand.
■BASKETBALL
Former Net hospitalized
Former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams was hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation on Monday following a early morning run-in with police that led to Williams being stunned with a Taser. The incident took place at a Manhattan hotel after police were called when the former NBA standout appeared suicidal, police said. Police said they found empty bottles of prescription medications thrown around the hotel suite. Williams, who played with New Jersey and Philadelphia before retiring in 2000, had divorce papers filed earlier this year claiming he was abusive, had cheated on her and had a drug problem. Williams was convicted in 2004 of trying to cover up the shooting death of Costas Christofi, his hired driver, at his New Jersey home in 2002. He was acquitted of aggravated manslaughter charges but the jury could not reach a verdict on a reckless manslaughter count. A retrial on that charge is pending.
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