■AUSSIE RULES
‘Cannibals’ quip sparks rage
Senior Australian Rules football figure Mal Brown sparked outrage yesterday after calling Aboriginal players “cannibals,” the sport’s latest row over alleged prejudice. Brown, a respected former player and West Australia coach, made the remarks — intended as a joke — while speaking at a function on Wednesday. “We had a distinct disadvantage, the West Australians, because the Victorians picked both sides,” he said. “They cheated, they picked the best players. And because there were no [stadium] lights, I couldn’t pick any of the cannibals. I couldn’t pick Nicky Winmar or Michael Mitchell or Chrissy Lewis. All the good black fellows, we couldn’t pick them because they couldn’t see them in the light.” Brown later denied any racial prejudice and accepted the remarks were inappropriate. “Sensitive people told me it wasn’t humorous and I made a dickhead of myself and I accept that,” he told Fairfax radio. “I’m not a racist, I’ve helped Aboriginal boys and grown up with them all my life,” he said. “I’m happy for the Aboriginal people to judge me when I die for what I have done, not for what I’ve said.”
■TENNIS
Stepanek to miss Wimbledon
Radek Stepanek has been ruled out of Wimbledon and the Czech Republic’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Chile next month because of a left knee injury. “His health problems are more serious than he expected,” Czech Davis Cup captain Jaroslav Navratil said in a statement posted on the Web site of the country’s tennis federation yesterday.World No. 18 Stepanek was seeded 22nd for Wimbledon, which begins on Monday. Stepanek announced in March that he was suffering from a fatigue syndrome and needed at least two months’ rest. He returned to action at a challenger tournament in Prostejov earlier this month.
■SOCCER
Chelsea to face West Brom
English Champions Chelsea will kick off their title defense at home to promoted West Bromwich Albion on Aug. 14, the Premier League announced yesterday. The opening match of the season promises to be a tough return to Stamford Bridge for former Chelsea and Italy midfielder Roberto Di Matteo, now the West Brom manager. In another headline clash on the opening weekend, Newcastle United will mark their return to the top flight with a trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United. Blackpool’s opening fixture will be at home to Wigan Athletic before trips south to Arsenal and Fulham. “I was just hoping for a home game really because the whole of the Fylde coast will be coming out with their tangerine shirts on,” Blackpool manager Ian Holloway told Sky Sports television. Arsenal, third last season, kick off their campaign with a tough starter against Liverpool at Anfield.
■CRICKET
Aussies could renew ties
Australia could renew cricketing ties with Zimbabwe next year starting with a series between the two countries’ A teams, the African country’s Sports Minister David Coltart has revealed. The Zimbabwe A team will likely tour Australia next year, the first step in an agreement that would also see an Australia A side play in Zimbabwe. No Zimbabwean team has toured Australia since 2003. “There is a spot in 2011, but the trouble is that slot was for Two tests in Australia, and ... there’s a recognition that to throw this young team into the Test arena against Australia at this stage would be counter-productive,” Coltart told Australian Associated Press.
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