■BASEBALL
Vizquel joins White Sox
Omar Vizquel agreed on Monday to a US$1,375,000 one-year contract with the Chicago White Sox, where he’ll play for fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillen. Vizquel, 42, is an 11-time Gold Glove winner and has played mostly shortstop during 21 major league seasons. This year with the Rangers, Vizquel hit .266 with one homer and 14 RBIs in 62 games. He had no errors in 207 chances while playing shortstop, third and second. Vizquel, who has played 238 games at shortstop since turning 40, has a career fielding percentage of .984. A three-time American League All-Star, Vizquel played in the 1995 and 1997 World Series with Cleveland. He has 2,704 career hits and is a career .273 hitter with 78 homers, 906 RBIs and 1,378 runs in 2,742 games with Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco and the Rangers.
■FOOTBALL
Titans beat Texas 20-17
Rob Bironas kicked a 53-yard field goal with less than a minute remaining as the Tennessee Titans beat the Houston Texans 20-17 for their fourth straight NFL victory after losing their first six games. The Texans had a chance to level it, but Kris Brown’s 49-yard attempt with 1 second remaining was wide left. It was his second miss of the game and the second straight game he’s missed a chance to send the Texans to overtime. The Titans haven’t lost since Vince Young took over at quarterback. He is 2-0 as a starter in his hometown of Houston after running for the winning touchdown in overtime in his last start, as a rookie in 2006.
■SOCCER
Beckham has mild asthma
David Beckham has suffered from a mild form of asthma since childhood, the England midfielder’s spokesman was quoted as saying in British newspapers yesterday. The 34-year-old Beckham was photographed on Sunday using an inhaler during LA Galaxy’s defeat by Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer’s championship game. “David has suffered with this since he was a young boy, but it has obviously had no effect on his performance,” Beckham’s agent Simon Oliveira was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. “He has never sought to make it public but if it does inspire any sufferer to think they can achieve great things like many other sportsmen have done then so much the better.”
■CRICKET
Asif does well on Test return
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif celebrated his recall to Tests with three vital wickets to have New Zealand at 276-6 at stumps on the first day of the first Test yesterday. Only a fielding lapse denied him a fourth wicket as New Zealand struggled through the first day in Dunedin after being sent into bat. Daniel Vettori escaped a golden duck in one of three dropped catches that proved costly for Pakistan and allowed New Zealand to build two solid partnerships. Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill staged a 117-run rescue stand for the third wicket, while Vettori and Brendon McCullum had put on an unbroken 65 for the seventh wicket. At stumps Vettori was on 40 and McCullum on 25. But around them the New Zealand batting had a familiar air of frailty as Asif took three for 76. Mohammad Aamir had two for 62. Asif, who arrived in New Zealand vowing to repair a promising career that had been stalled by injury and drug scandals, took wickets in the first and last sessions of the day.
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