SOCCER
City’s Tevez scores goal
Carlos Tevez scored his first goal in a Manchester City shirt in 10 months when he helped the reserves to a 3-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday. The striker, making his second appearance since returning from his native Argentina last month following a spectacular falling out with the club in September last year, tucked in a right-wing cross in the 50th minute. It was the first time Tevez had been on target in Manchester City colors since an English Premier League game against Stoke City in May last year. He was substituted against Bolton reserves with 20 minutes to go and received a generous ovation as he left the field.
ICE HOCKEY
Crosby cleared for contact
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been cleared for contact and is inching closer to a return, but no timetable has been set for him to rejoin the lineup. Crosby, sidelined by concussion-like symptoms for most of the past 14 months, told reporters after practicing with teammates on Tuesday that he hoped to play soon. “There is no real timetable, but it’s a good step,” Crosby said in a report on the team’s Web site. “I’ve been through this before. Contact is the big step. It’s nice to be symptom free, but it’s not as fulfilling until you get out there. I just want to make sure that I take the right steps here and get back out there soon.” Crosby, 24, was cleared to resume contact after showing no symptoms of his concussion problems for several days, but wants to try and get through more contact drills. The Canadian suffered the initial injury after taking hits to the head in successive games early last year. He missed the second half of that season and the first 20 games of the current campaign before making a stirring return in November last year.
KITESURFING
Pole fights off sharks
Polish kitesurfer Jan Lisewski fought off repeated shark attacks, overcame thirst and exhaustion in a two-day battle of survival on the Red Sea, Polish media reported on Tuesday. The 42-year-old Lisewski had completed two-thirds of a 200km attempt to cross the Red Sea from the Egyptian town of El Gouna to Duba in Saudi Arabia when the wind suddenly stopped, deflating his kite. Faced with rising waves and approaching nightfall, the Gdansk-born Polish kitesurfing champion and instructor sent out his first SOS signal, but it took nearly 40 hours for the Saudi Arabian coastguard to find him. Lisewski — who became the first person to kitesurf across the Baltic Sea last year — survived the ordeal with help of energy drinks, some water, two energy bars and a trusty knife to fight off sharks up to 6m long. “I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose and gills,” Lisewski told Polish state news agency PAP.
TABLE TENNIS
Hoyama back into Olympics
Brazil’s Hugo Hoyama will compete in his sixth Olympics in London, equaling a Brazilian record. The 42-year-old Hoyama, who earned his spot late on Monday in a qualifying tournament in Rio de Janeiro, will join five-time Olympic sailing medalist Torben Grael as the Brazilians with the most appearances at the Games. Hoyama has never won an Olympic medal, but is a 10-time winner at the Pan American Games since first taking part in 1987. Hoyama said he is “going to London as if it’s my first Olympics.” Hoyama made his Olympic debut in 1992 in Barcelona.
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
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
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two