ICE HOCKEY
Kings’ Kopitar needs surgery
Anze Kopitar, the Los Angeles Kings’ leading scorer, will have surgery to repair torn ankle ligaments and is unlikely to play again this season, the team said on Monday. The Kings had hoped Kopitar, who has a team-high 73 points in 75 games, including 25 goals, could return from the injury in six weeks, but it is now more likely he will not return before the start of the 2011-2012 NHL campaign. The 23-year-old Slovenian fell awkwardly after getting tangled up with Colorado defenseman Ryan O’Byrne in the second period of Saturday’s game. Kopitar’s absence is a severe blow to the Stanley Cup ambitions of Los Angeles (43-26-6), who are currently tied for fifth in the Western Conference.
RUGBY UNION
Sivivatu inks with Clermont
All Black winger Sitiveni Sivivatu will leave New Zealand after this year’s Rugby World Cup to play with French club Clermont, reports said yesterday. The Fijian-born flyer signed a two-year deal with Top 14 champions Clermont after rejecting a contract extension from the New Zealand Rugby Union, Fairfax Media reported. It said Sivivatu’s management team had confirmed the 28-year-old would move to France next year, with an official announcement expected today. Sivivatu has scored 27 tries in his 43 Tests for the All Blacks and is set to be a key part of the team’s campaign at the World Cup.
SOCCER
Dead gangster attends game
Hooligans supporting Colombian top-flight club Cucuta Deportivo managed a new low on the weekend after they smuggled a dead gang member in a coffin into a match. Cristopher Jacome, 17, had been shot by hitmen overnight on Sunday, but still made it to the match later in the day at the 45,000-capacity General Santander Stadium in the northeastern city of Cucuta, which finished in a 1-1 draw with Envigado. “This regrettable incident happened on Sunday when a group of hooligans managed to hoodwink stadium security and get the body of young Cristopher Jacome into the stadium,” local police colonel Alvaro Pico said.
SOCCER
La Liga case in court
A Madrid court yesterday was to hear arguments for and against industrial action that could lead to the postponement of this weekend’s La Liga matches. The professional soccer league (LFP) have threatened to suspend the 30th round of matches on April 2 and Arpil 3 in an attempt to force the government to scrap a rule that one La Liga game per weekend should be shown on freeview television. With talks seemingly failing and strike action looming, six clubs, known as the G-6 and including heavyweights Sevilla and Villarreal, have broken ranks and filed a legal challenge to try to have the move declared void. A decision from the judge is expected today.
RUGBY UNION
Ashley-Cooper hops squads
Versatile Australia back Adam Ashley-Cooper is to join the New South Wales Waratahs from rival Super Rugby team the ACT Brumbies at the end of the season. The 27-year-old, who re-signed with the Australian Rugby Union for another two years last month, will join the Sydney-based Waratahs on a two-year deal after six seasons in Canberra. Ashley-Cooper has been a key member of the Wallabies under coach Robbie Deans, playing in 14 of their 15 Tests last year. Able to play at fullback, winger or outside center, he delayed the announcement of his move until after the two teams met last weekend.
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