BASEBALL
MLB takes over LA Dodgers
Major League Baseball (MLB) is taking the extraordinary step of assuming control of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team increasingly paralyzed by its owners’ bitter divorce. Once among baseball’s glamor franchises, the Dodgers have been consumed by infighting since Jamie McCourt filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage in October 2009, one week after her husband fired her as the team’s chief executive. Frank McCourt accused Jamie of having an affair with her bodyguard-driver and performing poorly at work. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told Frank McCourt on Wednesday he would appoint a MLB representative to oversee all aspects of the business and the day-to-day operations of the club. At the same time, Frank McCourt was preparing to sue MLB, a baseball executive familiar with the situation said.
BOXING
Klitschko-Haye set for July 2
Britain’s WBA heavyweight champion David Haye and Ukraine’s WBO, IBO and IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko have set their title fight for July 2 in Hamburg’s soccer arena, Klitschko said on Wednesday. “I am happy that Haye is finally coming into the ring. He has twice avoided a Klitschko fight in the past,” Klitschko, whose brother Vitali holds the WBC crown, said in a statement. A Haye-Wladimir 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. Haye pulled out of a scheduled fight with Wladimir in 2009, citing an injury, although it was more likely a case of the two sides and their promoters failing to reach a deal. A Haye-Vitali Klitschko match also failed to materialize.
TENNIS
Li Na continues losing streak
China’s Li Na has vowed to learn the lessons from her defeats as her post-Australian Open misery continued on Wednesday when she exited Stuttgart’s WTA tournament in the second round. The 29-year-old sixth seed lost 6-4, 7-5 to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki to suffer her fifth defeat in six matches since losing the Australian Open final to Kim Clijsters in January. Since her Melbourne loss, Li suffered defeats in her opening matches at Dubai, Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, despite holding match points in two of those defeats. She beat Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova in Monday’s first round match in Stuttgart to stop the rot, but was then beaten by Lisicki in the second round.
STOCK CAR RACING
Brazilian driver dies
Hospital officials say a Brazilian stock car driver who suffered head injuries in a crash at the weekend has died. The Alvorada Hospital said in a statement that 67-year-old Paulo Kunze died on Wednesday morning as a result of the injuries from Sunday’s crash at the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo. Kunze reportedly lost control at a high-speed corner during a stock car race and his car rolled several times. The accident occurred two weeks after 29-year-old Brazilian driver Gustavo Sondermann died in a crash at Interlagos.
SOCCER
Cole fined for Twitter joke
West Ham striker Carlton Cole was fined by the Football Association on Wednesday for jokes he made on Twitter during England’s friendly against Ghana last month. The association said Cole was warned about his future conduct and fined £20,000 (US$32,800). Cole joked that the match at Wembley Stadium was a trap by the British government to find illegal immigrants. He deleted the comment, but was still charged.
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