BASEBALL
Bautista heals after surgery
Home run king Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays had surgery on Thursday to repair a sports hernia and is expected to need four to six weeks to recover, the team said. Bautista hit a Major League-leading 54 home runs with Albert Pujols of the St Louis Cardinals finishing a distant second with 42. Bautista established a record for the largest increase in home runs from one year to the next as he hit just 13 last year as a bench player for Toronto. Davey Johnson of the 1973 Baltimore Orioles held the previous record with an increase of 38 home runs.
BASEBALL
Tigers sign Brandon Inge
The Detroit Tigers have signed third baseman Brandon Inge to a two-year contract with an option for 2013, the team said on Thursday. Financial terms were not released, the Tigers said on their Web site. Inge, 33, was eligible for free agency after completing a four-year US$24 million contract he signed in 2006. Known for his defensive play at third base, he batted .247 with 70 runs batted in this year’s season.
FOOTBALL
Financing woes hit stadium
The San Francisco 49ers may delay opening their proposed new stadium by a year until 2015 because of problems securing financing, the team said. “Until there is a new collective bargaining agreement that embraces the realities of NFL economics today, the Santa Clara stadium project won’t attract the required funding from either the NFL clubs or the financial markets,” the 49ers said in a statement on their Web site. “Since the financing plan needs to be in place several years before the stadium opens, the planned 2014 opening date may be delayed by a year,” the statement added. The 49ers have plans to build a US$1 billion, 68,500-seat stadium in nearby Santa Clara, California. “But without a CBA that adequately recognizes the costs of new stadiums and other capital expenses required to generate revenue … the 49ers and the NFL cannot make a major investment in a new stadium at this time,” the 49ers’ statement said. The current collective bargaining agreement with the players expires in March with negotiations for a new agreement at a standstill. “We are working hard to reach an agreement with the players’ union that will provide the resources once again for significant capital investments by the league in projects such as a new Bay Area stadium,” the NFL said.
BOXING
Katsidis to fight Marquez
Michael Katsidis will fight Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez for his WBA Super and WBO lightweight titles as scheduled despite the sudden death of the Australian’s brother this week. The Nov. 27 bout in Las Vegas had been in doubt when Katsidis, who was training in Thailand, was told his Australian champion jockey brother Stathi had been found dead at his Brisbane home on Tuesday. “The fight will go on,” Katsidis said in a statement yesterday. “I will do this for Stathi, my family and myself.” Promoters Golden Boy said on Wednesday they would leave it up to Katsidis (27-2) to decide whether or not the fight should go ahead with Marquez (51-5). “He [Stathi] is with me and will be all the way. I’m happy about this. I have never experienced anything like I felt that day. Stathi is inside me. We will fight this fight together, I know this is what he wants.” Victory for Katsidis, the current WBO interim champion, would give the Queenslander a full version of one of the four recognized world titles for the first time.
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
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
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two