GOLF
Vijay Singh sue US PGA
Vijay Singh sued the US PGA Tour on Wednesday, a week after his doping case was dropped, claiming it damaged his reputation by not doing a thorough job of researching his use of deer antler spray. Singh filed the lawsuit in New York, where he has a home and the tour has an office. The 50-year-old Fijian said in a Sports Illustrated article in January that he used deer antler spray, which was said to include an insulin-like growth hormone that was on the tour’s list of banned substances. The tour sent a sample from Singh to be tested, and it returned small amounts of the IGF-1 chemical. The lawsuit said the tour notified Singh on Feb. 19 that he was to be suspended for 90 days. Singh appealed. Last week, commissioner Tim Finchem said the tour was dropping its case based on new information from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He said WADA informed the tour that using deer antler spray was no longer prohibited because it contains such minimal amounts of IGF-1. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
SOCCER
Rafinha banned two games
Bayern Munich defender Rafinha was given a two-match ban and fined 15,000 euros (US$19,737) by the German Football Federation (DFB) on Wednesday after being sent off in last weekend’s draw with Borussia Dortmund. The 27-year-old Brazilian was dismissed for elbowing Borussia midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski in the face during the second half of the Champions League final dress-rehearsal, which ended in a 1-1 league draw in Dortmund. The DFB disciplinary committee gave Rafinha an added fine and an extra game, to the statutory one-match ban for a red card, after the Brazil international also poked Blaszczykowski in the face as he walked off. The incident led to a shouting match between Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp and Bayern’s director of sport Matthias Sammer. Bayern can appeal the ban, which sees Rafinha suspended for the remaining two German league games of the season, at home to Augsburg on Saturday and next weekend at Borussia Moenchengladbach.
BOXING
Garcia to face Lopez
Mikey Garcia will put his minor WBO featherweight title on the line against Juan Manuel Lopez on June 15 in Dallas. The bout at the American Airlines Center will be the first for Garcia since taking the crown from Orlando Salido on a unanimous decision in New York in January. Garcia is 31-0 with 26 knockouts. Both of Lopez’s professional losses have been to Salido in the past two years. The most recent was in March last year, and he was suspended for a year by Puerto Rican boxing authorities for accusing the referee who stopped the fight of betting on the match. Lopez (33-2, 30 KO) returned from the ban in February and stopped Aldimar Silva Santos in the ninth round.
SOCCER
Man City to play in S Africa
English Premier League club Manchester City will play two pre-season friendlies in South Africa in July, it was announced at a media conference on Wednesday. Opponents and venues for the July 14 and July 18 fixtures have to be confirmed, although one is set for Durban and the second game will be linked to the 95th birthday of revered former South African president Nelson Mandela. City, whose star-stacked squad includes Ivory Coast midfielder and reigning African Footballer of the Year Yaya Toure, won the Premier League last year and are set to finish runners-up behind Manchester United this season.
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