Mali’s Koman Coulibaly, who took charge of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations final, is one of five referees leaving this year’s tournament after the completion of the group stage yesterday.
The 42-year-old has officiated at seven Africa Cup of Nations, but is probably best known for disallowing what seemed a perfectly legitimate US goal against Slovenia at the World Cup finals in South Africa three years ago.
Although he has avoided major controversy at this tournament, his handling of host South Africa’s Group A match against Angola came in for widespread media criticism for a series of debatable calls.
Also leaving is Egyptian referee Ghead Grisha, who was accused by Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama of “making one of the worst decisions in the history of football” when he awarded a penalty to Zambia in last Friday’s Group C clash.
Madagascan official Hamada Namplandraza is another referee heading home after he appeared to lose all sense of time during Togo’s Group D match against Algeria on Saturday, after stopping the match in the 86th minute when a goalpost began to lean.
The match was held up for 13 minutes while the post was repaired, but when play resumed, instead of playing the last four minutes plus stoppage-time, he played 16 more minutes — adding how long it took to fix the goal to the actual playing time.
The situation could have led to deep embarrassment for the Confederation of African Football and the match needing to be replayed had a decisive goal been scored in the time added on by mistake.
In the event, Togo, already 1-0 ahead, scored a second goal soon after play had restarted.
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