SOCCER
Sex-for-fixing refs jailed
Three Lebanese referees pleaded guilty in Singapore yesterday to accepting free sex from a gambling-linked global syndicate in return for rigging a match in the city-state, with two jailed and sentencing deferred for the third. A district court judge jailed assistant referees Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, for three months, but deferred sentencing until today for referee Ali Sabbagh, whom state prosecutors said was the most culpable. The assistant referees broke down into sobs and repeatedly looked up as if to thank God after Judge Low Wee Ping said they could be freed by later yesterday or today, after remission for good behavior and due to time already served awaiting sentence. Turning to Ali Sabbagh, 34, the judge said: “I need time to consider your sentence. I don’t, for the moment, accept that you should be sentenced to six months.”
SOCCER
Dortmund striker to stay
Borussia Dortmund’s prized striker Robert Lewandowski will not be making his anticipated move to UEFA Champions League winners and Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich in this transfer window, the club’s chief executive office Hans-Joachim Watzke said yesterday. Bayern, who completed a treble-winning season earlier this month, were fully expected to poach Lewandowski from the Champions League runners-up after they already persuaded talented Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze to join them for next season.
RUGBY UNION
Cooper caught up in fracas
Dumped Wallaby Quade Cooper has been involved in an incident at a Brisbane hotel in which he had beer thrown over him, reports said yesterday. Cooper, 25, was drenched in beer by a patron at the Normanby Hotel on Sunday, shortly after he was told he would not be part of the Wallabies squad for this month’s three-Test series against the touring British and Irish Lions, News Ltd newspapers reported. A witness told Brisbane’s the Courier-Mail the patron goaded Cooper, provoking an argument and threw a plastic cup of beer over him. “Quade did nothing and, to be honest, I was surprised he didn’t retaliate because I would have,” the witness said. “He was hit with a full cup of beer. He was soaked in it. “There was an argument and Quade stood up to him, but he was never going to throw the first punch.” Cooper has a suspended fine hanging over him after he was sanctioned by the Australian Rugby Union in October last year for bringing the game into disrepute by criticizing the Wallabies and coach Robbie Deans.
CRICKET
Youngest player debuts
Yorkshire’s 15-year-old pace bowler Matthew Fisher became English county cricket’s youngest post-war player after he was handed his senior debut on Sunday. Fisher was named in the side to face Leicestershire at Scarborough in a 40-over match, having taken six for 25 against the Foxes in a second XI match earlier last week. Yorkshire confirmed on Twitter: “Matthew Fisher will become the youngest player to feature in a competitive county match aged 15 years and 212 days.” Fisher was originally included in the match-day squad two days ago, at which point Yorkshire’s first-team coach Jason Gillespie said: “Matthew deserves his call-up into the squad. We monitor the progress of all our players and the feedback I have received from [second-team coach] Paul Farbrace on the way Matthew has been playing has been excellent.”
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