FOOTBALL
Concussion settlement pushed
A lead players’ lawyer pushing the estimated US$1 billion settlement of NFL concussion claims says the league will pursue “scorched-earth litigation” if the case is not settled. Players’ lawyer Christopher Seeger’s arguments opened a day-long “fairness hearing” on the settlement in federal court in Philadelphia. The deal would settle thousands of lawsuits that accuse the NFL of long hiding what it knew about concussion risks. The NFL expects about 6,000 former players to develop Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in the coming decades. They would get an average US$190,000. Some critics say that is not enough to cover their needs. Others complain that there are no awards for depression, mood swings, dizziness and other problems they blame on concussions. Senior US District Judge Anita Brody is not expected to rule immediately on whether to accept the deal.
SQUASH
Matthew, 34, reaches semis
Nick Matthew kept alive his chances of defending the World Open title and also of becoming the oldest man ever to win it by reaching the semi-finals on Wednesday. The 34-year-old Englishman denied Amr Shabana, the 35-year-old Egyptian with an 11-3, 12-10, 11-7 success that will rate as one of his best performances against one of the all-time greats. Shabana had been playing well enough to harbor hopes of winning the world title a fifth time, but his one real chance of getting back into the match slipped away when he was unable to convert his solitary game point in the second game. That arrived at 10-9, but then Shabana’s attempt to cut off a cross court drive ended with the ball in the tin. Thereafter, Matthew’s hustling volleying, consistently solid attack and excellent movement applied too much pressure. “You don’t often beat Shabana in straight games, and that’s really going to help me for the rest of the week,” Matthew said after completing his victory in only 42 minutes. “I’m really, really happy with that. He’s an absolute legend and I’m over the moon to get a result like that and get off fresh for tomorrow.”
OLYMPICS
Morning glory for track finals
Eight track and field finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics will be staged in the morning to capture prime-time TV audiences in Europe, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said on Wednesday. It will be the first time that athletics medal deciders have been switched to the morning since the 1988 Games in Seoul. The decision means there will be 13 morning finals — eight track and field plus the traditional early staging of the two marathons and the three walking events. The move should boost viewing figures in Europe, where the time difference is at least five hours. Rio’s Olympics, the first in South America, will be held from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21, 2016.
HORSE RACING
Weather forces cancelation
Louisville, Kentucky’s Churchill Downs is canceling live racing for a second straight day after the track remained frozen following an early blast of wintry weather. It is the first time a frozen track has forced consecutive cancelations since Nov. 23-24, 1970. The 10 races set for Wednesday and yesterday have been wiped out after crews were unable to thaw out the 1.6km dirt track. Training was scuttled, too. Churchill president Kevin Flanery says strong winds Wednesday did not help and the track cushion has not dried out evenly to provide a suitable racing surface for the horses. The track was hit with 7.6cm of snow on Monday, keeping horses out of training.
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