TABLE TENNIS
Jun breaks national record
Mizutani Jun has broken the Japanese national record to become the first man to win the country’s table tennis championships five times in a row. “I knew almost everyone was expecting me to win this singles title and I wanted to do so in dominant fashion,” the 21-year-old told Kyodo News. The old record was held jointly by Fujii Norikazu and Saito Kiyoshi who won the titles in 1946-1949 and 1982-1985. Jun climbed three notches in the world rankings to reach a career high of seven earlier this month.
SOCCER
Casillas to score for UN
Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas signed up to a UN drive against poverty on Monday, joining five other sports stars as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Programme (UNDP). “While my job on the pitch is to prevent goals, my job at UNDP will be to help score them,” Casillas said. Casillas will be involved in raising awareness for the UN’s Millenium Development Goals, aimed at halving world poverty between 2000 and 2015 by tackling hunger and disease. “Life has given me so many things, I would like to give something back,” he said during a ceremony at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. “I want to travel and help,” he added.
CRICKET
Injury sends Swann home
England spinner Graeme Swann is returning home from Australia because of a lower back strain, but should be fit for the World Cup, team coach Andy Flower said yesterday. Swann, who was instrumental in England’s first Ashes series victory in Australia for 24 years, was already struggling with a knee injury he suffered while batting in the one-day series. “Graeme Swann will be taking the earliest flight home,” Flower told reporters in Adelaide. “He’s unfortunately got a strain in his lower back and that, allied with his knee problem, means that it is best for him to go home and get ready for the World Cup now.” Flower said he was confident both Swann and seamer Tim Bresnan, who has also returned to England with a torn calf muscle, would be ready to play at the World Cup, which starts next month in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
SOCCER
Italy’s ‘Oscars’ awarded
Inter striker Diego Milito was voted Italian Players’ Association player of the year for 2009/2010 on Monday in Milan, Italy, with his former boss Jose Mourinho winning the best coach award. Milito, 31, scored the winning goals in the three key matches as Inter claimed last term’s unprecedented Italian treble of Serie A, Champions League and Italian Cup in his first season at the club. He netted 22 league goals last season. “It’s an immense honor. For me, 2010 will always be a truly unforgettable year,” late bloomer Milito said at the ceremony dubbed the “Italian soccer Oscars.” The Argentine beat off competition from Dutch teammate Wesley Sneijder, who has missed out for a second time after being left off the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d’Or won by Lionel Messi this month. Mourinho was odds-on to win the best coach award for a second straight year despite quitting Inter for Real Madrid immediately after sealing May’s treble. The Portuguese, who cheekily revealed he had won during a Real news conference on Sunday, could not attend the glitzy show at a Milan theater, but sent a video message. The annual January gala, which recognizes achievements from the previous season voted on by Serie A players, also saw Julio Cesar again named goalkeeper of the year, while Inter teammate Maicon won the award for best goal.
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