SOCCER
Stars stun fans off the pitch
Imagine Lionel Messi, or even Colombia striker Teofilo “Teo” Gutierrez turning up on your doorstep to deliver the club shirt or soccer ball of your favorite team that you bought online. Well, that is what Teo and other players with Argentine champions River Plate did, taking fans totally by surprise on day one of deliveries from the club’s new “River Store” e-commerce venture inaugurated this week. River posted a video on their Web site of Teo, former Argentina midfielder Leonardo Ponzio and striker Fernando Cavenaghi making the deliveries from a van. They were given an emotional reception from the surprised fans at each stop, including embraces, followed by the chance to do some ball juggling with their heroes outside their front doors and get some of their purchases autographed.
SOCCER
Mamic convicted of slander
Controversial Dinamo Zagreb boss Zdravko Mamic was convicted of slander on Wednesday and ordered to pay 17,000 euros (US$22,000) to a lawyer representing Brazil-born Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva. A Zagreb court found Mamic, executive director of the Croatian champions and Eduardo’s former manager, guilty of verbally attacking lawyer Ivica Crnic at a hearing in March last year. At the time Mamic, against whom Eduardo had launched legal proceedings, called the player’s lawyer a “mouse, an idiot, a monster and [a] daddy’s boy.” Mamic, 55, is well-known for his outspoken behavior and for threatening journalists. In July, he was acquitted of inciting hatred with a slur against an ethnic Serb minister. Eduardo left Croatia in July and is currently playing for Brazilian club Flamengo.
TENNIS
Muguruza serves up upset
Garbine Muguruza’s perfect serve helped her to a surprise 6-2, 6-1 victory over top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the group-stage at the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions on Wednesday. The WTA rising star from Spain, who replaced injured Australian Samantha Stosur, needed just 69 minutes to cruise past the Russian favorite. “She played very aggressive and didn’t give me any chances,” an exhausted Makarova said after the match. “I played very good today, indeed,” the Venezuela-born Muguruza said, adding: “I’m here to win the tournament.” In the Sredets Group, Andrea Petkovic of Germany outlasted Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-2 for her first victory of the tournament, while Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia defeated Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-4 in the group’s second match. Australian Open finalist Cibulkova started aggressively and took a 5-0 lead in the first set. Suarez Navarro rallied to 5-5, but Cibulkova managed to close the set out before going on to secure her second straight victory at the event.
TENNIS
Hsieh crashes out in Ningbo
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the second round of the singles at the Yinzhou Bank International tournament in Ningbo, China, yesterday. Hsieh fell to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat at the hands of second seed Zheng Saisai of China in 1 hour, 44 minutes. In the doubles, Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan also lost her quarter-final yesterday after Lee and her partner, Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia, were beaten 6-3, 6-1 by fourth seeds Sharon Fichman of Canada and China’s Zheng in just 54 minutes. Third-seeded Taiwanese pairing Chan Chin-wei and Chuang Chia-jung are due to face Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Zhang Kai-lin in the semi-finals of the doubles today.
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