■BOXING
Pacquiao to take on Clottey
WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will put his title on the line against Ghanaian Joshua Clottey in March after talks on a bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr fizzled out this week, the Filipino’s promoter said on Friday. The planned fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather Jr broke down when negotiations between the two sides hit a snag over the American’s demand for a rigorous dope testing procedure. Pacquiao’s new opponent beat Zab Judah of the US for the IBF welterweight title in August 2008 and lost a split decision to Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto last June. “This is a better fight,” Bob Arum of Top Rank, Pacquiao’s promoter, said in a telephone interview. “[Clottey’s] a real strong, aggressive and hard-punching African from Ghana and he poses a real test for Manny.” Arum said a location for the fight would be decided tomorrow.
■SKELETON
Hollingsworth breaks record
World Cup leader Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada won a skeleton race on Friday in Koenigssee, Germany, after setting a track record in the second run. Hollingsworth clocked 49.48 seconds and 48.78 seconds for an aggregate of 1 minute, 38.26 seconds, beating first-run leader Kerstin Szymkowiak of Germany by 0.24 seconds. Shelley Rudman of Britain was third, 0.47 seconds behind. Martins Dukurs of Latvia, who also leads the overall standings, won the men’s race in 1 minute, 35.29 seconds after runs of 47.74 seconds and 47.55 seconds. Dukurs beat two Germans. Sandro Stielicke was 0.34 seconds behind and Frank Rommel 0.55 seconds back.
■SOCCER
Faubert targets Algeria spot
West Ham United’s French midfielder Julien Faubert has applied for an Algerian passport in a bid to achieve his dream of playing at this year’s World Cup in South Africa, the player told the AS sports daily on Friday. Faubert, whose wife is Algerian, has played only one match for his native France, although that was a friendly. Algeria qualified for the World Cup after a dramatic two-leg playoff with north African giants Egypt. The Desert Foxes will play in Group C alongside England, the US and Slovenia. West Ham loaned Faubert to Real Madrid last season, where the player had a bitter experience — playing a total of one hour in the last few months of the season before returning to England.
■SOCCER
Dossena moves to Napoli
Defender Andrea Dossena joined Italian club Napoli on a four-year deal from Liverpool on Friday. Napoli, who are fourth in Serie A, paid 4.25 million euros (US$6.1 million) to buy the Italy international, Liverpool said. Since joining Liverpool in 2008, Dossena has scored one goal in 18 Premier League games. He also appeared in eight Champions League matches. Dossena has also played 10 times for Italy and wants to secure a spot in the Azzurri squad for this year’s World Cup in South Africa. He previously played in Italy with Verona, Treviso and Udinese.
■SOCCER
Liverpool sell Voronin
Liverpool have agreed to sell striker Andriy Voronin to Dynamo Moscow. The Premier League club said on Friday that they had negotiated a fee of 2 million euros with Dynamo and the Ukraine international had agreed personal terms. Liverpool expect the deal to be completed over the weekend. Manager Rafa Benitez says he is selling Voronin, who was on loan at Hertha Berlin last season, because he cannot be guaranteed regular action.
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