FORMULA ONE
Schumacher goes home
Former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has left a Swiss hospital and will continue his recovery at home, his manager said on Tuesday. The seven-time world champion suffered a serious head injury while skiing in France at the end of December last year. “Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months,” his manager, Sabine Kehm, said in a statement. “There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead.” Schumacher was transferred to a hospital in Lausanne in June after six months at a hospital in France. Kehm said he was now at his home in Gland, near Geneva, without specifying when the move happened or giving details about his current condition. “We ask that the privacy of Michael’s family continue to be respected and that speculations about his state of health are avoided,” Kehm said.
FOOTBALL
Bills sold to Pegula family
The owners of the Buffalo Bills reached an agreement on Tuesday to sell the NFL franchise to Terry and Kim Pegula, who already own the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres. Terry Pegula, 63, a natural gas development and real-estate mogul, has been a popular figure in Buffalo for his commitment to keep the franchise in western New York state. The price tag was not revealed, although multiple outlets reported the deal to be worth US$1.2 billion. That is slightly more than truck-stop magnate Jim Haslam paid for the Cleveland Browns in 2012. The team was put up for sale when Ralph Wilson, the franchise’s founding owner, died in March at the age of 95. “This is a very important day in the history of the Buffalo Bills franchise,” Bills controlling owner Mary Wilson said in a statement. “Ralph would have been pleased with the sale of the team to the Terry Pegula family, who has been so committed to Buffalo and the western New York region.”
BASKETBALL
Cavs sign Shawn Marion
Adding championship experience in the wake of landing superstar LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced on Tuesday they had signed forward Shawn Marion, who helped Dallas win the 2011 NBA crown. The Cavaliers were revitalized when James, who led the Miami Heat to two NBA titles and two more runner-up showings over the past four seasons, returned to his home-region club in July. That prompted the Cavaliers to swing a trade deal for star big man Kevin Love, giving James a “Big Three” along with guard Kyrie Irving in much the way he had a star trio in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but the Cavaliers have also added a strong supporting cast, including sharpshooter Mike Miller, James Jones and now Marion.
RUGBY UNION
Pollard to face All Blacks
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has thrown rookie Handre Pollard to the wolves, naming him as starting flyhalf against the All Blacks for their pivotal Rugby Championship clash in Wellington on Saturday. With the tournament hanging in the balance after three rounds, the promise of three-cap Pollard has been preferred to the lethal boot and experience of seasoned flyhalf Morne Steyn, who has been dumped from the team altogether. The only omission from the squad that lost a cliff-hanger 24-23 to Australia in Perth last weekend, Steyn may have some cause to feel aggrieved after a solid performance against the Wallabies. “We felt that Handre has the right skill set for how we want to approach this game,” Meyer said of the 20-year-old.
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