RUGBY UNION
‘Grizzly’ saves woman’s life
Otago Highlanders captain Jamie Mackintosh recounted yesterday how he saved the life of a choking woman by squeezing her “like a great big grizzly bear,” breaking one of her ribs in the process. Mackintosh was at a Dunedin restaurant with teammates earlier this month when fellow diner Wendy Knight began choking after a large piece of steak became lodged in her throat. As the 44-year-old struggled for breath, the 130kg prop leapt into action, performing a rough-and-ready version of the Heimlich maneuver. “We asked if she was OK and seeing she couldn’t talk, I got in behind her and it was like a great big grizzly bear mauling some kind of small animal,” Mackintosh told the Otago Daily Times. He said he had never received medical training, but instinctively performed the maneuver. “I obviously buggered it up if I cracked her rib,” Mackintosh said. Knight said she had become Mackintosh’s biggest fan despite the broken rib, but that she would be changing her eating habits. “I don’t think I will ever eat steak again,” she told the newspaper.
CRICKET
England women win series
England beat Australia by 16 runs to win the women’s quadrangular Twenty20 series at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England, on Monday. Lydia Greenway made 48 of England’s 132 for nine. Although Australia’s Alex Blackwell and Lisa Sthalekar put on 72 for the fifth wicket, the visitors were never up with the required run-rate and finished on 116 for eight.
SOCCER
Real swoop for Varane
Highly rated French defender Raphael Varane signed for Spanish giants Real Madrid from French second division side Lens, the selling club’s president Gervais Martel said on Monday. The 18-year-old — who has played just 23 Ligue 1 matches in a season that saw Lens relegated — signed a six-year contract after passing a medical, Real announced when they confirmed the signing later on Monday. Varane, regarded as one of the most promising young defenders in French soccer, cost Real 10 million euros (US$14.3 million) according to sources close to the deal. The defender had been closely linked with move to Manchester United.
SOCCER
Shin wakes from coma
South Korean striker Shin Young-rok, who suffered a heart attack during a K-League match last month, has woken up from a seven-week coma, local media reported yesterday. The 24-year-old Jeju United striker slipped into unconsciousness after collapsing during a game against Daegu on May 8. He received cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the pitch, before being taken to Jeju Island’s Halla Hospital. Shin was moved from the hospital’s intensive care unit on Friday. Hospital chief Kim Sung-soo said Shin was not out of the woods yet, but the situation was improving. “Shin has had multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, so it will take some time for him to heal, but we are staying positive,” Kim told the Korea Herald.
SOCCER
Players fined for fixing
Poland midfielder Lukasz Piszczek and 10 other players have been fined and given suspended prison sentences by a Polish court for their role in fixing a top-flight match in the 2005-2006 season. Piszczek received a one-year prison term suspended for three years and was fined 100,000 zlotys (US$33,000) on Monday for his involvement in bribing players from Cracovia Krakow to help his then-team Zaglebie Lubin advance to the UEFA Cup.
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