NETHERLANDS
Ajax close on the leaders
Teenager Viktor Fischer scored a first-half brace to inspire hosts Ajax to a 3-0 win over archrivals Feyenoord in the Dutch league on Sunday. With the top two slipping up this weekend, when leaders Twente were held to a goalless draw by RKC Waalwijk and second-placed PSV Eindhoven lost 3-1 to PEC Zwolle, Ajax were able to capitalize, despite ending their match with 10 men. The victory literally brought the house down as there were dramatic scenes in the dying minutes when substitutes and coaches ran on to the pitch to avoid being covered by a huge amount of snow that suddenly crashed through the stadium’s roof. The victory put Ajax level with PSV on 40 points from 19 games and one point behind Twente. Feyenoord stay fourth on 37 points, two above Vitesse, who suffered a 4-1 defeat at AZ on Saturday. Utrecht are sixth with 33 points following a 2-0 win at Groningen, with Alexander Gerndt and Mike van der Hoorn on target.
PORTUGAL
SC Braga thump Vitoria
SC Braga beat visiting Vitoria de Setubal 4-1 on Sunday to tighten their grip on third place in the Portuguese league. Braga remain seven points behind SL Benfica and Porto, level at the top of the standings, with their ninth win in 15 games. Marcio Mossoro put the hosts ahead with an opening goal just seconds into the game. Custodio then doubled Braga’s advantage with a header two minutes into first-half stoppage-time. Ruben Amorim made it 3-0 for Braga in the 58th minute. Jorginho Sousa got Vitoria their consolation goal in the 87th, one minute before midfielder Ruben Micael capped the win for Braga. Braga’s Paulo Vinicius was shown a red card in the 90th minute.
GREECE
Olympiakos extend lead
Olympiakos caretaker coach Antonis Nikopolidis celebrated his first match in charge of the champions with a 2-0 win at home to PAS Giannina in the Super League on Sunday. The 42-year-old former Greece and Olympiakos goalkeeper took over on an interim basis following the sudden departure of Leonardo Jardim on Saturday. Goals from striker Rafik Djebbour and winger Djamel Abdoun either side of halftime enabled the hosts to extend their lead at the top over PAOK to 13 points after the Black and Whites lost 1-0 at PAE Asteras Tripolis the previous day. “Tonight, I had more anxiety to be honest than when I made my debut as a player,” Nikopolidis told reporters. “As a player I have international experience and it was not so difficult to find my feet, but it’s a completely different thing to be a coach — nonetheless, I think I can do it.” In Sunday’s late game, Antonis Petropoulos headed home in stoppage-time to rescue a point for AEK in an ill-tempered 1-1 draw at Aris in which both teams were reduced to nine men.
TURKEY
Galatasaray sign Sneijder
Inter’s Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder signed for Galatasaray on Sunday for a fee believed to be in the region of 7.5 million euros (US$10 million), the Istanbul side announced. Playmaker Sneijder penned a three-and-a-half-year deal which will keep him at Galatasaray until 2016 as the drawn-out transfer saga was finally completed. The Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the player would earn about 5 million euros a season. Sneijder was a key figure in the treble winning season under Jose Mourinho in 2010 when Inter won the scudetto, the Coppa Italia and their first UEFA Champions League trophy since 1965, but he fell out with the club after Inter asked him to accept a reduction in salary and extend his contract to 2016.
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