SOCCER
Portugal unsure on Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo’s chances of being fit for Portugal’s opening World Cup clash with Germany were thrown into further doubt on Thursday when coach Paulo Bento refused to put a timeframe on his return. Ronaldo, 29, failed once more to train with the rest of his teammates, as they went through their paces yesterday. Portugal are to play the strongly fancied Germans on June 16, but, at this rate, they could be without their star player and talisman. The Real Madrid forward has a left thigh injury and tendinitis in the knee of the same leg, and has been struggling for fitness for several weeks in the crucial build-up to the Brazil showpiece.
CRICKET
Sri Lanka take control
Kaushal Silva and Lahiru Thirimanne both scored hundreds as Sri Lanka compiled 358-3 on the opening day of their tour match against Northamptonshire. At stumps on Thursday’s first day of four at Northampton, opener Silva was 152 not out in what was Sri Lanka’s final match before next week’s first of a two-Test series against England at Lord’s. Thirimanne, dropped first ball, made an unbeaten 120, with Sri Lanka’s fourth-wicket pair having adding an unbroken 238 after they had both been reprieved by teenage wicketkeeper Ben Duckett.
RUGBY UNION
Care out of first Test
England scrumhalf Danny Care has been ruled out of Today’s first Test against New Zealand, stripping his 47 Tests from a touring team already missing many experienced players. Care failed a fitness test yesterday on an injured shoulder and was withdrawn from the England side for the first match of a three-Test series. He was replaced by Ben Youngs, who is to make his 36th Test appearance, while Lee Dickson moved to the England bench. England is already without several frontline players who took part in last weekend’s final of the English club premiership.
FORMULA ONE
Drivers call for softer tires
A group of leading Formula One drivers have called on Pirelli to make their tires softer, claiming the current tyres are too hard for this year’s cars. Two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari complained about the tires during the Monaco Grand Prix. “They are too hard, it’s no secret... When Pirelli bring normal tires, they get good grip within two or three laps, but when they bring harder tires, it takes eight or nine laps,” the Spaniard said. “But this is what we have, it’s the same for everybody so we need to make them work better than the others.” Pirelli boss Paul Hembery said they were open to switching to softer tires, but said that it was a year ago that the drivers called for harder tires following a spate of high-speed punctures.
FIELD HOCKEY
Australia defeat Belgium
Defending champion Australia won their third straight match at the field hockey World Cup and handed Belgium their first loss by 3-1 on Thursday. Chris Ciriello and Jacob Whetton scored in the first 10 minutes for Australia, but coach Ric Charlesworth said he was concerned about defensive lapses, including one in the second half that led to Belgium’s goal. Australia’s women have also started 3-0 in their group after also beating Belgium 3-2, their third consecutive match with that scoreline. In other men’s matches, England beat Malaysia 2-0 and India drew 1-1 against Spain. Among the women, Japan drew 1-1 against South Korea, while the Netherlands beat New Zealand 2-0.
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