■CRICKET
Black Caps target coach
New Zealand’s cricket team want coach Andy Moles sacked, and claim captain Daniel Vettori has effectively been filling the role for the last six months, a report said yesterday. An unnamed source said senior players claimed Moles had not provided them with adequate tactical or technical support, a report by Dominion Post cricket writer and former New Zealand fast bowler Jonathan Millmow said. New Zealand Cricket responded to the report by confirming Moles’ position as coach. Moles would continue to prepare the team for a series of one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates starting early next month, chief executive Justin Vaughan said.
■BOXING
Kelly Pavlik scraps title bout
Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik called off a title defense against Paul Williams set for Dec. 5 because of an infected left hand. Pavlik was to fight Williams at Atlantic City in one of the year’s most anticipated bouts, but promoter Top Rank said on Wednesday that Pavlik was unable to make a fist or punch with the injured hand. Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) believes the infection could date to last October, when he was pounded by Bernard Hopkins.
■SOCCER
Houston out of CONCACAF
A surprise defeat for Houston Dynamo at the hands of group minnows Metapan on Wednesday cost the US club a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals, handing the berth to Panama’s Arabe Unido. El Salvador’s Metapan had lost all five of its previous group games, but Emerson Umana’s deflected freekick gave the hosts a 3-2 win over a stunned Houston, which would have reached the quarters with a win. That meant Arabe Unido clung onto second spot in Group A despite losing 2-0 to Mexico’s Pachuca, which topped the group and also progresses to the last eight. In the night’s other group game, Trinidad’s W Connection defeated Honduras’ Real Espana 3-2 in Group D. That result eliminated Real Espana from quarter-final contention.
■SOCCER
Match to be screened in 3D
The match between top Mexican sides America and Guadalajara on Sunday will be screened in 3D, with broadcasters Televisa claiming on Wednesday it will be the first broadcast of its kind in the world. The Clausura championship match at the Azteca in Mexico City will be screened in cinemas in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
■OLYMPICS
Torch made for bad weather
The torch that train, plane and motorized sled manufacturer Bombardier made for Canada’s upcoming Olympic Winter Games was to be lit at the birthplace of the Olympics in Greece yesterday. Inspired by the contours of Canada’s winter landscape, the torch is designed to withstand colder temperatures than any other torch in Olympic history and uses a dual burner system to guard against extreme weather conditions. It will be flown back to Canada at the end of the month for a 45,000km relay ahead of the February Games in Vancouver. The torches are made from anodized aluminum, stainless steel and a composite compound. Each weighs 1.6kg, including fuel, which is a mix of propane and isobutane. Its designers said the torch would remain lit through “rain, sleet, snow and wind” and in temperatures from minus 40˚C to 40˚C.
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