■RUGBY UNION
Beale cleared of assault
Australian star Kurtley Beale said yesterday he was relieved to be able to concentrate on his career after being found not guilty of assaulting a female relative. Beale, 21, had been accused of placing a teenage cousin in a headlock and punching her four times in the head during a party in Sydney last July. But Magistrate Glenn Bartley said the girl sustained no injuries in the alleged attack and had likely overstated her ability to accurately recollect the day’s events given she had been drinking. Bartley told Mt Druitt Local Court the Australian fullback weighed more than double the alleged victim and was very fit, which meant “the absence of an injury is a partial contributor to reasonable doubt.” During the hearing, Beale had admitted he had sworn at a group of female relatives who had been verbally abusing his then girlfriend, but denied hitting his cousin. Outside court, he said he was relieved to have been cleared of assault. “I always said that I was not guilty from the start, like I said [I’m] just very relieved and very happy that I can concentrate on my football,” he said.
■BASKETBALL
Violence halts final
Panathinaikos were named Greek champions after referees called off the fourth game of the league finals against Olympiakos when it was interrupted by fans for a second time at Olympiakos’ home arena on Sunday. The abandonment, just 1:03 before the end, handed Panathinaikos an eighth consecutive Greek title and 12th in the last 13 seasons. Panathinaikos, already ahead 2-1 in the best-of-five finals series, were leading 76-69 and about to shoot two free throws when Olympiakos fans seated behind the two baskets threw a barrage of plastic bottles and arena seats. A flare was thrown at Panathinaikos players and coaching staff as they were leaving the arena, narrowly missing them. The referees’ decision must to be confirmed by league authorities, who will likely impose a harsh penalty on Olympiakos. The arena had already been partly evacuated during a lengthy interruption with 5:02 remaining in the third quarter with Panathinaikos leading 50-42. Then, during a timeout, Olympiakos fans threw fireworks and projectiles at the Panathinaikos bench.
■MOTOGP
Pedrosa wins in Italy
Dani Pedrosa of Honda won the Italian MotoGP at the Mugello circuit on Sunday, seeing off fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo on a Yamaha and Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso, also of Honda. Pedrosa’s win by a 4 second margin ended a seven-year drought at the venue for the Japanese manufacturer. Ironically their 2003 win came from Valentino Rossi, the nine-time world champion and defending MotoGP titleholder, who missed Sunday’s race with a broken leg suffered in Saturday’s practice session. In Rossi’s absence, victory for Pedrosa took the Spaniard into second place in the standings, but he trails his countryman Lorenzo by 25 points after four races of the 18-race season.
■HORSE RACING
Attendance slump halts
British horse racing’s governing body says a slump in attendance has been halted but the sport continues to faces a tough economic climate and declining TV revenue. The Jockey Club says “racing needs to act swiftly and decisively if our future is to be as bright as our past.” The Jockey Club says 1.8 million people attended 374 races at 14 racecourses last year, an increase following a decline in recent years. This year’s annual review showed the organization generated £100 million (US$145 million) in revenue.
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