■HORSE RACING
Dwarf race causes outrage
Australian horse racing officials have been slammed for holding a dwarf racing competition called the “Midget Cup” at a meeting in Melbourne to promote Victoria state’s annual carnival. The race at the Cranbourne Cup on Sunday featured dwarfs dressed as jockeys being carried piggyback by runners down a race-course and has been denounced by government officials and advocacy groups. “Well look, there’s often a fine line between a bit of fun and a silly stunt and I think this falls into the latter category,” Victorian racing minister Rob Hulls told state radio. Stuart Laing, a marketing manager at Racing Victoria, said the dwarf race was intended to be “harmless fun,” but apologized and said it would not be repeated. The Short Statured People of Australia hit out at the race, saying using dwarfs for laughs “just makes life harder for us.” However, one of the dwarfs involved, entertainer Jeremy Hallam, said the race was intended in good humor. “I didn’t know there was going to be quite as big an uproar. I think there was nothing wrong with it, it was all in good fun,” he said.
■GOLF
Hecklers kill off ‘party hole’
Organizers of Australia’s national golf championship have scrapped the tournament’s controversial “party hole” after players complained about raucous spectators camped at the greenside bar. The stadium hole brought a DJ and an open bar to the last two editions of the Australian Open in what organizers hoped would attract new fans to the game. The hole, set up at Royal Sydney golf course’s 17th last year, was the subject of controversy after Australian Robert Allenby was heckled by a spectator about his sick mother, who has since died of cancer. A furious Allenby denounced the hole as promoting alcoholism and threatened to never return to the Australian tour. “He gave us some feedback about last year’s Open about what he felt and we certainly took that on board,” Golf Australia CEO Stephen Pitt said of two-times champion Allenby, who will skip the Dec. 3 to Dec. 6 tournament for the first time in 20 years.
■FIELD HOCKEY
Pakistan forward facing ban
Pakistan forward Tariq Aziz faces a ban of six to 12 months after he admitted to taking cannabis to treat a back ailment, an official said yesterday. Tests proved negative but traces of Carboxy-THC — a by-product of cannabis — were still found in a sample he provided. Last month, national team coach Shahid Ali Khan said Aziz had taken an unspecified banned substance because he was “really desperate” to return to the side after his back trouble. Aziz has a history of disciplinary problems. He was banned for six months after he hit an Australian player with his stick during the final of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. That was his second offense in the tournament, having already received a red card for hitting a South African player.
■CRICKET
Pakistan skipper quits
Younus Khan has resigned as captain of Pakistan in protest at match-fixing allegations made against the team by a senior member of parliament. Younus submitted his resignation to the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ejaz Butt, during a hearing of the National Assembly (NA) standing committee on sports in Islamabad yesterday. The hearing was called to discuss the performance of the team in the Champions Trophy after the NA committee chairman, Jamshed Dasti, said he had evidence Pakistan deliberately under-performed against Australia and New Zealand in the tournament.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB