■ARGENTINA
Maradona battles bulge
Argentina coach Diego Maradona is in Italy to receive medical treatment to combat his weight increase and rising stress levels following his team’s two straight losses in World Cup qualifying. ANSA reported on Tuesday that Maradona traveled to the Alpine town of Merano to a beauty farm after Argentina lost 3-1 to Brazil and 1-0 to Paraguay. ANSA quoted unidentified hotel personnel saying that Maradona intends to stay for a couple of weeks for strict dieting.
■BOLIVIA
Players quit national team
Bolivia’s players have resigned from the national team indefinitely and are demanding reforms in the game from their federation (FBF) and the government, their union (Fabol) said on Tuesday. The move could leave Bolivia without a squad to face Brazil at home and Peru away in their remaining World Cup qualifiers next month. “Bolivian soccer is in a deep crisis and as long as our suggestions are not taken into account and implemented ... the country’s professional soccer players resign indefinitely from representing the national team,” Fabol said in a statement. Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed last week that the state take charge of the game because of the national team’s poor results. Bolivia are second-bottom of the 10-team South American group with 10 points from 16 games. The union wants the game to be governed by a single executive body with an equal say for “the real actors in soccer, the players, coaches and referees” and more money injected into the game by the government. Bolivian soccer is run by three separate entities, the FBF, the League and the national associations.
■ENGLAND
FA charges City’s Adebayor
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been charged with violent and improper conduct during Saturday’s 4-2 Premier League win over visitors Arsenal, the English Football Association (FA) said on Tuesday. “Under the fast-track disciplinary process, Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Robin van Persie, which resulted in the Arsenal player receiving facial injuries,” an FA statement read. “Adebayor has also been charged with improper conduct following his actions when turning and running the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal supporters after scoring.” Greater Manchester Police have written to the FA with their views on the incident at the City of Manchester stadium and a separate date will be arranged for a commission to consider Adebayor’s goal celebration. The forward, who joined City from Arsenal in July, angered fans after what van Persie described as a “mindless and malicious stamp” by Adebayor went unpunished. “Referee Mark Clattenburg has advised the FA that he did not see this incident, but has confirmed that had he done so, he would have sent Adebayor off for violent conduct,” the FA statement said. Adebayor’s goal celebration also sparked crowd trouble among Arsenal fans leading to a steward being injured.
■CONCACAF
Cruz Azul stay unbeaten
Mexican club Cruz Azul remained undefeated in the CONCACAF Champions League, rallying from a two-goal deficit on Tuesday to draw 3-3 with the Puerto Rico Islanders in Group C. In other games on Tuesday, D.C. United defeated San Juan Jabloteh of Trinidad 1-0 in Port-of-Spain on Christian Gomez’s penalty in Group B, and Arabe Unido of Panama defeated Metapan of El Salvador 1-0 in Group A.
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