■SOCCER
Henry escapes punishment
French captain Thierry Henry escaped being punished for his infamous handball incident in the 2010 World Cup finals play-off against Ireland, FIFA announced on Monday. FIFA’s disciplinary committee said they were powerless to punish the 1998 World Cup winning striker because their rules forbade them to do so if the original misdemeanor had not been seen by the match officials. “At its meeting on January 18, 2010, the disciplinary committee reached the conclusion that there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as a serious infringement as stipulated in article 77(a) of the FIFA disciplinary code,” the statement from the committee said. “There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials.”
■FOOTBALL
Ellis to play despite injury
New York Jets player Shaun Ellis says he will play against Indianapolis in the AFC championship game despite a broken left hand that requires surgery. The defensive end was hurt on New York’s first defensive play in their 17-14 playoff win at San Diego on Sunday. Ellis, who says he immediately knew the hand was broken, had a cast put on it and continued to play against the Chargers. The team doctor confirmed the injury. He will have surgery to insert pins and screws after the Indianapolis game and will have to wear a special cast next Sunday.
■CRICKET
England too slow: ICC
England’s crushing innings and 74 run defeat in the fourth and final Test against South Africa was compounded on Monday when the team was fined for maintaining a slow over-rate in Johannesburg. In a statement issued from its Dubai headquarters, the International Cricket Council (ICC) imposed the fine after Andrew Strauss’ team were ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration. New ICC code of conduct regulations governing minor overrate offenses stipulate that players be fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount. Therefore, Strauss was fined 20 percent of his match fee, while his players received 10 percent fines. If Strauss is found guilty of two further minor over-rate offenses in Tests over the next year, he will receive a one-match suspension.
■SOCCER
Ibrahimovic honored
Former Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was named Italian players’ association player of the year on Monday despite now being with Barcelona. The awards, known as the Italian soccer Oscars, were voted on by Italy-based players during the offseason and reflect performances during the 2008-2009 campaign. This allowed Sweden’s Ibrahimovic, top scorer last term with 25 goals, to win the best player and best foreign player awards having joined Barcelona in July. His former coach Jose Mourinho, who has often clashed with rival managers and journalists but is respected by players throughout the game, won the best coach award after leading Inter to last season’s Serie A title in his first campaign in charge. Inter were elected team of the year. The best Italian player awards went to AS Roma and Italy’s midfielder Daniele De Rossi, while Inter’s Julio Cesar was voted top goalkeeper. Best young player was AC Milan’s Brazilian Alexandre Pato and the defender award went to Juventus center back Giorgio Chiellini.
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