■EQUESTRIAN
British relegation overturned
Britain’s equestrian team will compete in this year’s elite Nations Cup series after their relegation was overturned by an international tribunal. The British team had been relegated, leaving just nine teams in this year’s Nations Cup, after the sport’s global governing body the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) applied seemingly contradictory competition rules. Having finished eighth in the 10-nation series last year, Britain was still relegated along with the ninth-placed Belgium and 10th-placed Italy on the basis the British were level on 22 points with Belgium. Nations Cup rules state that if teams are level on points, the nation with the most first place classifications should go above, leaving the British eighth in the end-of-series rankings. However, Nations Cup Rule 16 dictates that: “Teams tying on points for either of the last two places in the final classification of the Top League are separated by relegating the two teams with the greatest number of last places in the Top League competitions.” Applying Rule 16 in isolation would have left Britain relegated along with Italy. Following a number of hearings, the FEI relegated all three bottom nations. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport allowed the British appeal on Tuesday, meaning the British will remain in the top flight for this year.
■RUBGY UNION
Rebels hire new manager
Super rugby’s new franchise, the Melbourne Rebels, have appointed Athletics Australia chief executive Danny Corcoran as general manager of rugby operations, the team said in a statement yesterday. “[Corcoran] currently holds the most senior athletics role in the country and has expertise in high performance. Put simply, Danny is a wonderful addition to the team,” Rebels chief executive Brian Waldron said. Corcoran’s appointment follows the signing of New South Wales Waratahs hooker and former Wallaby Adam Freier on Tuesday. Freier joins former Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock and England flyhalf Danny Cipriani on the Rebels’ player roster for the inaugural Super 15 season next year.
■BASEBALL
Non-US players dip
The percentage of Major League Baseball (MLB) players born outside the US has dipped slightly from last year. It was 27.7 percent at the start of this season, down from 28 percent on opening day last year. The MLB commissioner’s office said on Tuesday that of the 833 players on rosters at the end of Monday, 231 were born outside the US. That was down from a high of 29.2 percent in 2005. The Dominican Republic leads with 86 players in the majors. That’s five more than last year but two fewer than in 2008 and down 12 from 2007. Venezuela was next with 58 at the start of the season, an increase of six from last year.
■CYCLING
Armstrong drops from race
Lance Armstrong has pulled out of the Circuit de la Sarthe race in western France before the second day due to illness, according to a Team Radio Shack spokesman. Philippe Maertens said yesterday the seven-time Tour de France champion was suffering from diarrhea, vomiting and a fever, and described the American’s conditions as really bad. Armstrong was 24th after the opening day of the race, and had said that six members of his team were suffering from a stomach bug.
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