BOXING
Klitschko-Haye fight a go
Britain’s WBA heavyweight champion David Haye and Ukraine’s WBO, IBO and IBF champion Vladimir Klitschko have agreed to fight in Germany in June or July, their respective managers said on Sunday. “The fight is 99 percent sealed,” Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente told Bild newspaper on Sunday. “We have June 25 and July 2 as possible dates.” A Haye-Vladimir Klitschko clash has been on the cards for two years, but twice the two sides failed to finalize a deal after disagreeing on how to split revenues. “The most likely date is July 2 in Germany, but it may be a week earlier on June 25. We were always confident that this fight would happen,” Haye’s manager and trainer Adam Booth said. With no possibility of a single fighter holding all belts — Vitaly Klitschko holds the WBC belt and the brothers are not going to fight each other — the Haye fight was long considered the one bout that could establish the Klitschkos as the undisputed champions after dominating their sport in the past years.
NORDIC SKIING
Northug dominates 50km
Norwegian cross-country star Petter Northug lived up to his top billing as he powered to a third gold medal in the 50km freestyle race to close out the Nordic world skiing championships. There was none of the showboating on display during the relay this time around as the 25-year-old Norwegian fell to the snow in exhaustion after crossing the line in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 9.0 seconds. Northug’s finishing sprint is his greatest asset. He used it to win the 30K pursuit and his rivals knew they would have to break clear early to stand a chance. However, no real threat emerged with Northug shadowing the leaders all the way before unleashing his patented burst in the final kilometer. The win cemented Northug’s stature as the natural heir to cross-country all-time great Bjorn Dahlie.
RALLYING
Loeb triumphs in Mexico
Sebastien Loeb of France beat Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen on Sunday to win the Mexican Rally for the fifth time. Loeb, a seven-time world champion, took first place after Citroen teammate Sebastien Ogier crashed out in the first of the final day’s three stages. Ogier had led after the opening two days. Loeb finished 1 minute, 38 seconds ahead of Hirvonen, who had Ford teammate and countryman Jari-Matti Latvala a further 45 seconds behind. “That was a very hard weekend. We’ve done nearly a perfect weekend,” Loeb said. “Some little troubles, but not so much with a new car, so I was quite happy for that.” Loeb said he felt sorry for Ogier, who led by 10 seconds going into the final day before breaking the front-left wheel of his car in Sunday’s opening trial. Hirvonen, who won the opening rally of the season in Sweden in February, also won three bonus points by finishing the final stage in Mexico quickest.
TENNIS
Karlovic sets serve record
The International Tennis Federation confirmed on Sunday that Ivo Karlovic of Croatia broke the world record for the fastest serve. He struck a 251kph serve in the fourth set of a doubles game of the Davis Cup series against Germany on Saturday, breaking Andy Roddick’s previous record of 249kph. The American set the mark in the Davis Cup series against Belarus in Charleston in 2004 while playing against Vladimir Voltchkov. “I noticed that while serving, saw it on the screen,” said Karlovic, the the tallest player on the ATP circuit at 2.08m. “It is really great.”
NETHERLANDS
Ajax put four past Alkmaar
Siem de Jong scored a goal and created another for Lorenzo Ebecilio as Ajax beat AZ Alkmaar 4-0 to stay third in the Dutch League on Sunday. Demy de Zeeuw gave Ajax the lead after five minutes by converting a pass from Ebecilio. De Jong doubled the lead in the 56th minute, hitting a long-range shot after a poor clearance by the AZ defense. Winger Ebecilio made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute, before Vurnon Anita played a one-two with Dario Cvitanich to stab the fourth into an open net in the 89th minute. Ajax have 52 points, two behind defending champions Twente in second place. PSV Eindhoven lead the standings with 57 points. Both PSV and Twente secured important wins on Saturday. PSV needed a stoppage-time penalty to dispatch Excelsior Rotterdam 3-2, while Twente had little trouble beating NAC Breda 2-0. Also on Sunday, Luc Castaignos’ 78th-minute goal gave Feyenoord a 1-0 win over SC Heerenveen. Heracles Almelo beat FC Groningen 4-1 with Everton getting two second-half goals. Also, it was: Vitesse Arnhem 2, VVV-Venlo 0; ADO The Hague 5, NEC Nijmegen 1; De Graafschap 2, Willem II 1; and FC Utrecht 1, Roda JC 1.
GREECE
Olympiakos extend lead
Olympiakos built a nearly unassailable 13-point lead with 5 rounds to play in the Greek league by defeating visiting Ergotelis 3-0 on Sunday, while defending champions Panathinaikos crashed 2-0 at Larissa. Francois Modesto, Marko Pandelic and Kevin Mirallas each scored in the second half for Olympiakos, who have 64 points from 25 games. Fabrice Pancrate and Joel Tshibamba scored before the half hour for Larissa, who remain next to last with 23 points. AEK beat visiting PAOK 4-0 to remain in third place, 24 points behind Olympiakos. Also on Sunday, Panionios came from a goal down to defeat hosts Atromitos 2-1 and Kavala prevailed 1-0 over Asteras. Two minutes into the second half, Modesto put Olympiakos ahead with a header off a cross from Olof Mellberg. In the 57th minute, Pandelic got a pass from Ariel Ibagaza inside the Ergotelis area and he turned quickly and shot into Iosif Daskalakis’ right-hand corner. Mirallas latched on to a deep pass from Mellberg inside the area to seal Olympiakos’ victory with his 12th goal of the season.
PORTUGAL
Braga end Benfica streak
Ten-man Benfica lost for the first time in 19 games in all competitions, going down 2-1 at Braga on Sunday in the Portuguese league. Porto are now 11 points clear of second-placed Benfica at the top of the standings. Benfica went ahead when Javier Saviola fired in a rebound of a strike by Carlos Martins that goalkeeper Artur Moraes blocked but could not hold in the 25th minute. The hosts went down a man when Javi Garcia was shown a red card in the 41st minute and a minute later, Hugo Viana equalized for Braga. Substitute Marcio Mossoro blasted in the winner in the 79th minute. Meanwhile, Sporting defeated Beira Mar 1-0 for their first win in eight games to strengthen their hold on third place.
DENMARK
Copenhagen suffer first loss
Champions Copenhagen suffered their first league defeat of the season by going down 2-0 at Midtjylland as the Danish top-flight returned from its winter break on Sunday. The champions retain their massive 19-point lead at the top of the table, but manager Stale Solbakken was far from happy. “Everyone can have a bad day, but it didn’t work technically or tactically,” he told reporters after the game. Midtjylland move into second.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB