■SOCCER
Zheng gets work permit
China captain Zheng Zhi was given the green light on Friday to start his career with Scottish giants Celtic after being granted a work permit. The 29-year-old midfielder arrived in Glasgow on Thursday to sign a reported two-year deal. Zheng will not be able to play in Celtic’s Europa League games, however, after UEFA confirmed he was not registered in time. Zheng has already played in Britain having spent three years at Charlton Athletic before leaving the club at the end of last season. “Zheng Zhi is a player I have tracked for some time,” Celtic manager Tony Mowbray told the club’s official Web site. “He is a highly-regarded player and was a thorn in our side when he played against us at West Bromwich Albion.”
■SOCCER
Witsel’s suspension cut
Standard Liege midfielder Axel Witsel has had his suspension for the foul that broke Marcin Wasilewski’s leg cut to eight matches on appeal. Witsel had originally been banned until Nov. 23, a punishment that would have kept him out for 10 matches in the league and one round of the Belgian Cup. His fine has also been cut from 2,500 euros to 250 euros (US$357), the Belgian Football Association’s appeals panel ruled on Friday. In further good news for the player, the file will not now be sent to soccer governing bodies UEFA or FIFA. Witsel, 20, could have missed Liege’s first four Champions League matches if UEFA had extended the ban’s scope. Witsel was sent off for stamping on Anderlecht’s Polish defender Wasilewski in last Sunday’s 1-1 draw. Wasilewski suffered a double fracture of his right leg.
■SOCCER
Perez mulling theme park
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is considering the creation of a Disneyland-style theme park dedicated to the Spanish giants, press reports said on Friday. The park, which Perez hopes will attract up to three million visitors a year, would be situated near the club’s training grounds at Valdebebas, northeast of the capital, sports daily AS reported. The cost of undertaking such a project is estimated at 150 million euros (US$214 million) with Real having already spent 100 million euros on their new Valdebebas training center where they plan to construct a new basketball center. Perez is reported to have contacted city officials in Beijing and Miami to propose local offshots of the theme park devoted to Real Madrid.
■FOOTBALL
Favre fined for illegal hit
Brett Favre has been slapped with a US$10,000 fine for an illegal hit in a National Football League game on Monday that injured a Houston Texans player. The newest Minnesota Vikings quarterback used what gridiron players call a “crackback block” in the third quarter of the exhibition game, injuring Houston’s Eugene Wilson. The play occurred when the 39-year-old Favre was lined up as a receiver in the wildcat formation, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on Friday. Favre said after the game that injuring Wilson was not his intention.
■FORMULA ONE
Brawn fined for speeding
Ross Brawn, whose team Brawn GP leads the Formula One constructors’ championship, has been fined for speeding, but escaped a ban. Magistrates were told on Friday that Brawn, whose driver Jenson Button leads the drivers’ championship, was doing more than 160kph in a 113kph limit in his Mercedes, blaming heavy traffic for being late for an appointment. Brown was fined £700 (US$1,150) and six points were added to his license.
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