■TENNIS
Safina pulls out of Dubai
World No. 2 Dinara Safina pulled out of next week’s Dubai tennis championships because of continuing problems with a back injury, the Russian said on Monday. “Unfortunately, I will not be able to play this year because of the back injury that’s been bothering me since the end of last season,” Safina said on her Web site. Safina has not played since retiring injured during her fourth-round match against compatriot Maria Kirilenko at the Australian Open last month. The 23-year-old said she was hoping to come back at the US$4.5 million Indian Wells tournament in the US starting on March 10.
■SOCCER
Gascoigne arrested, again
Former England star Paul Gascoigne was arrested at the weekend on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, police said on Monday. The 42-year-old, who has struggled with alcoholism and depression, was arrested after officers were called to a disturbance at a takeaway restaurant in Leeming Bar, England, on Sunday evening. Gascoigne claimed last year to have given up drinking, but he was arrested and fined in December for being drunk and disorderly in his hometown of Newcastle. As well as his drink-related problems, Gascoigne has admitted heavy use of cocaine and has undergone treatment for bulimia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was institutionalized three times under the Mental Health Act in 2008. Gascoigne — known to fans as “Gazza” — made 57 appearances for England in an international career that included a starring role in his country’s run to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup. He played for Newcastle, Tottenham, Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough as well as having a spell in China.
■BASKETBALL
Kaman joins All-Stars
Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman was named to the Western Conference All-Star team in place of injured Portland guard Brandon Roy, the Clippers said on their Web site on Monday. Roy was originally selected as a reserve, but has been sidelined with a hamstring ailment, clearing the way for the 213cm Kaman to play in Sunday’s game. Kaman, who is averaging a career-best 20.2 points per contest and nine rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the field, will make his first All-Star appearance. The 27-year-old, who has played for the German national team, is one of just three players in the NBA currently averaging 20 points and nine boards.
■CYCLING
Steurs wins Qatar stage
Belgian Topsport rider Geert Steurs won the second stage of the Tour of Qatar on Monday after edging Dutchman Wouter Mol of the Vacansoleil team, who assumed the overall lead. Steurs and Mol launched a breakaway after barely 2km of the 147km course between the Camel Race Track and the Qatar Foundation, which is the longest of the race. The peloton, including Belgian Tom Boonen — who lies fourth overall — and his compatriot Philippe Gilbert, American Tyler Farrar and Germany’s Heinrech Haussler, crossed the line just under two minutes behind the lead pair. Steurs dedicated his stage victory to his former team-mate Frederik Nolf, who died in the same race last year. Norwegian national champion Kurt-Asle Arvesen will play no further part after he crashed out the day before his 35th birthday. He tumbled at the start of the stage and broke his collarbone for the second time in a year, having sustained the same injury in last year’s Tour de France.
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