SOCCER
Real Madr id go through
Holders Real Madrid had to dig deep to come from two goals down and beat heavily bankrolled Malaga 3-2 in their Spanish Cup Last 16 first leg clash in Madrid on Tuesday. Malaga — who have been transformed since Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani invested in them — were looking comfortable after goals by Sergio Sanchez and Martin de Michelis put them ahead, but Real roused themselves to gain a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Malaga next week. Three goals in 10 minutes in the second-half by German midfielder Sami Khedira, Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain and French strike partner Karim Benzema saw a first-choice Real side edge to victory. Both Malaga’s goals came from headers before the half hour mark.
SOCCER
Havenaar joins Dutch team
Japan striker Mike Havenaar has completed a medical and joined up with his new teammates at Dutch first division club Vitesse Arnhem. The beanpole 24-year-old, who left relegated J-League side Ventforet Kofu to join Vitesse, had also been linked with German club Wolfsburg before opting for the Netherlands. Havenaar, whose Dutch father Dido is the goalkeeping coach for Japan’s Shimizu S-Pulse, was born and raised in Japan. He has signed a two-year-plus contract with Vitesse, who also have Japanese defender Michihiro Yasuda on their books, to run until the end of the 2014 season. Havenaar made his national team debut as a substitute on Sept. 2, when Japan squeezed past North Korea in their opening 2014 World Cup qualifier. He then scored twice in an 8-0 thrashing of Tajikistan in another home qualifier and netted 17 J-League goals last year to finish second in the scoring charts, two behind Australia striker Josh Kennedy.
SOCCER
QPR appeal red card
Queens Park Rangers are appealing to the English FA following the red card awarded to Joey Barton in Monday’s match against Norwich City. The struggling west London club said on their Web site that they had lodged a formal appeal and would be making no further comment. Barton was dismissed for an off-the-ball incident with Norwich’s Bradley Johnson after 34 minutes, when he appeared to headbutt his opponent during the Premier League match at Loftus Road which Norwich won 2-1 after Barton had given Rangers an early lead. Both Barton and his manager Neil Warnock vehemently protested the sending off after the game, with Warnock claiming that referee Neil Swarbrick and his linesman were “conned” into sending off the Rangers skipper. “The assistant referee has guessed, if I’m honest,” Warnock told BBC Sport. “Who says cheats don’t prosper? Bradley has conned him.” Barton said the officials told him at halftime that they “never saw” the incident with Johnson.
CRICKET
Sri Lanka in Twenty20 bid
Sri Lanka is in negotiations to host Indian Premier League (IPL) matches to raise money for its financially strapped cricket board, the Cricinfo Web site reported yesterday. Upali Dharmadasa, the newly elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket, told the Web site he had approached the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to schedule some of the Twenty20 league’s games on the island. “Make it a venture,” he said. “On the whole, they [the BCCI] will help Sri Lanka as a tourist attraction and see that Sri Lanka Cricket comes up.”
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