CRICKET
‘Little Master’ quits IPL
Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar has announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL), saying it was the “right time” to stop playing the Twenty20 tournament. “This is my last IPL. This has been a fantastic season,” Tendulkar said in a TV interview after his team, the Mumbai Indians, won the final on Sunday. Tendulkar is the world’s leading scorer in both Test and one-day internationals. “I think this is the right time to stop playing the IPL. I am 40. Got to accept it. This is the best point to say thank you very much to all the supporters and well-wishers,” he said. Dubbed the “Little Master,” Tendulkar has scored 15,837 runs in 198 Tests with 51 centuries, and 18,426 runs in 463 one-day internationals with 49 centuries.
SOCCER
Celtic clinch the double
Gary Hooper’s brace helped Celtic clinch the double as the Hoops swept to a 3-0 win over Hibernian in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Sunday. Hooper struck twice in the first half and Joe Ledley’s late goal completed a record-extending 36th Scottish Cup triumph for Celtic, and their first league and cup double since 2007. “I felt so nervous this morning and all the way during the game really, because of the weight of expectation riding on the game, but the players today were excellent. They controlled the game, and played with great maturity and scored three very special goals. To win the double as a player was great, but to win it as a manager is just fantastic,” Celtic manager Neil Lennon said.
SOCCER
America claim 11th title
Ten-man America beat Cruz Azul 4-2 on penalties to win a record-equaling 11th Mexican league title on Sunday, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat after two late goals forced extra-time. The Eagles trailed 1-0 from the first leg of the final and were quickly a man down at the Azteca after midfielder Jesus Molina was sent off in the 14th minute. They fell behind on the night, and 2-0 on aggregate, to a 20th-minute goal by Colombia striker Teofilo Gutierrez and looked set for defeat, before staging a miraculous late salvo from two corner-kicks. Colombian centerback Aquivaldo Mosquera headed America’s equalizer in the 89th minute from Argentine Rubens Sambueza’s corner. Then, in the third minute of stoppage-time, America goalkeeper Moises Munoz came up for another corner and his header was deflected into the net by defender Alejandro Castro.
SOCCER
Vitoria rally to clinch Cup
Vitoria SC came from behind to beat favorites SL Benfica 2-1 and clinch their first Portuguese Cup on Sunday at the end of a terrible season for the Lisbon club. Vitoria seized a memorable win thanks to a mix of hard work at the back and effectiveness up front, while defeat for Benfica meant they ended the season without a trophy. Late goals from Soudani and Ricardo prevented Benfica from finding some solace after losing the championship to Porto and the Europa League final to Chelsea in the space of just a few days.
SOCCER
IFK win shootout, lift Cup
IFK Gothenburg beat Djurgardens IF to claim the Swedish Cup in a dramatic penalty shootout after the final finished 1-1 after extra-time. Tobias Hysen poked home from close range to give Gothenburg the lead after just five minutes, before Djurgardens midfielder Daniel Amartey equalized with a header seven minutes into the second half.
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