SOCCER
Mechelen fall to another loss
Taiwan international Xavier Chen’s KV Mechelen were beaten 2-1 at home by Royal Standard de Liege on Wednesday as they lost ground on the teams above them in the Belgian Jupiler League. Julien Gorius opened the scoring for the hosts after 35 minutes, but it all fell apart for the Yellow Reds in the second half when goalkeeper Wouter Biebauw scored an own-goal in the 65th minute. Michy Batshuayi scored the winner for Standard nine minutes from time to move them up to fourth in the standings. Mechelen remain in ninth. Chen played the full 90 minutes.
BASKETBALL
Coke to advertise in Chinese
Knicks fans will soon see Coke ads in Chinese on the rotating courtside signs at Madison Square Garden. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Susan Stribling said Coke has a longstanding partnership with the NBA and already displays ads at The Garden, but wants to take advantage of the enthusiasm surrounding NBA sensation Jeremy Lin and the Knicks. Stribling said the courtside ads are a favorite of advertisers, because they can be seen by fans at the game and on TV, both in the US and abroad. The company is also considering putting up Mandarin ads in The Garden’s concourses, she said.
BASKETBALL
Lin jersey sales still hot
The No. 17 jersey of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin continues to enjoy hot sales, despite a cooling of the “Linsanity” on-court phenomenon, which has given a huge boost to the team’s share of the NBA merchandise market, according to a report published on Wednesday by MarketWatch. Lin’s jersey has been the NBA’s top seller so far this year, the report said, citing SportsOneSource. The sales outshine those of Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who rounded out the top five.
SOCCER
Priest calls for exorcism
Togo’s chief voodoo priest, Togbui Gnagblondjro III, on Wednesday called on the country’s soccer federation to consider using traditional ceremonies to “chase away evil spirits” that were afflicting the national game. “There is too much blood. We should go back to ‘the thing of our ancestors’ and hold traditional ceremonies, for we all know that in Africa, when a person dies in an accident, we hold ceremonies,” he said. Togolese soccer has been afflicted by a series of tragedies in recent years. In 2007, 13 members of a Togolese sports ministry delegation, including the sports minister, were killed in a helicopter accident in Sierra Leone after a qualifying match for the following year’s Africa Cup of Nations. In Angola in January 2010, armed separatists opened fire on the national team bus at it traveled to the Africa Cup of Nations, killing two people, including assistant coach Abalo Amelete. In November last year, six people were killed and 26 injured when a bus carrying members of first-division side Etoile Filante of Lome overturned and caught fire.
SOCCER
Indian player collapses, dies
An Indian player died after collapsing on the pitch during a district-level league match, the All India Football Federation said on Wednesday. Local media reported 27-year-old Bangalore Mars striker D. Venkatesh collapsed following a cardiac arrest at the Bangalore Football Stadium. With no ambulance around, his Bangalore Mars teammates hired an auto-rickshaw to take him to a local hospital where Venkatesh was pronounced dead, one report said.
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