TENNIS
Flipkens hushes journalist
A BBC broadcaster was told to quiet down by a player at Wimbledon on Monday when his on-air segment interrupted her fourth-round match. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium stopped play to complain to the umpire during the second set of her win over Flavia Pennetta that a journalist standing on a roof overlooking Court 18 was speaking too loudly. Flipkens gestured angrily up toward John Watson, who was presenting a segment on BBC World News. After chair umpire Fergus Murphy asked “the gentleman who’s broadcasting in the brown suit” to be quiet, Watson looked slightly bemused as he realized the comments were directed at him. Looking into the camera, Watson said: “This is a very surreal moment,” and “I don’t think I’ve ever been told to be quiet by the fellow players.” He later said on Twitter he apologized to Flipkens in person after the match.
CRICKET
Dhoni out of tri-nations
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been ruled out of the remainder of the tri-nation series with a right hamstring strain sustained while batting against the West Indies in his team’s first match of the tournament on Sunday at Sabina Park in Kingston. His place in the 15-man squad is to be taken by the uncapped 27-year-old batsman Ambati Rayudu. Vice captain Virat Kohli, who led the team on the field in Dhoni’s absence against the West Indies, takes over as captain for the remainder of the series. India faced Sri Lanka yesterday in Kingston with both teams looking for their first points after each lost to the hosts in their respective opening fixtures. Following that encounter, the tournament shifts to the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad, for the remaining three preliminary matches, starting with India against the West Indies on Friday.
SOCCER
Paulinho to join Spurs
Influential Brazil midfielder Paulinho has accepted an offer from Tottenham Hotspur and will join the Premier League club from Corinthians before the start of the season, the player said on Monday. A powerful box-to-box midfielder, Paulinho, who scored 34 goals in 167 games for Corinthians, shone in Brazil’s successful Confederations Cup campaign last month. “All I have to say to Corinthians is: ‘I’ll be back,’” Paulinho said in a tearful farewell on Monday. Media reports say Spurs will pay 20 million euros (US$26.07 million) for the 24-year-old, who helped the Sao Paulo side to the World Club Cup in December last year and became a regular choice for the national side. He picked up the bronze boot trophy for the third-best player in the Confederations Cup on Sunday.
SOCCER
SA thrown finals lifeline
South Africa were thrown a World Cup qualifying lifeline on Monday after rivals Ethiopia were docked three points by FIFA for fielding an ineligible player in a match against Botswana. In a statement released by soccer’s global governing body, FIFA said that Minyahile Teshome Beyene should not have played in Ethiopia’s 2-1 win as he was suspended for accumulated yellow cards. As a result, Botswana were declared winners of the Group A game by a 3-0 margin and Ethiopia, who had gone five points clear of South Africa at the top with one match each to play, saw their previously unassailable lead cut to two points. Ethiopia are still favorites to top the group as they visit Central African Republic in their final game on Sept. 6, while South Africa host Botswana the same day.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite