SOCCER
Unique punishment served
A German player who told a female referee “women have no place in men’s football” during a second-division match found himself officiating a girls’ game on Saturday. Fortuna Duesseldorf 1895’s Kerem Demirbay had to apologize to German FA (DFB) referee Bibiana Steinhaus for his comments and was banned for five games, two of which would be suspended. However, his club lodged an appeal and came up with an unusual punishment of their own. “This is what happens at Fortuna when a young player makes a mistake,” Fortuna posted on their Facebook page with pictures of Demirbay refereeing a match between two junior girls’ teams — albeit in his normal clothes.
BASEBALL
Giants sign Samardzija
The San Francisco Giants have signed right-hander Jeff Samardzija to a five-year deal, the team announced on Saturday, as the big name pitching merry-go-round continued in Major League Baseball. With David Price joining the Boston Red Sox, John Lackey apparently finding a new home at the Chicago Cubs and Zack Greinke reportedly moving to the Arizona Diamondbacks, it has been a boom week for free agent pitchers. The Lackey and Greinke acquisitions have not been officially confirmed by their respective new clubs, but have been reported by multiple media outlets.
SWIMMING
Phelps claims third victory
US swim star Michael Phelps roared home to win the 200m butterfly and claim his third victory in as many days at the US Winter National Championships on Saturday. The 18-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the event clocked 1 minute, 56.11 seconds as he continues his preparations for an Olympic comeback next year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Chase Kalisz finished 1.01 seconds back in second while Dakota Hodgson was third in 1:59.09, three seconds slower than Phelps at the King County Aquatic Center in Seattle, Washington.
ALPINE SKIING
Vonn’s streak continues
American Lindsey Vonn continued her domination at Lake Louise with a victory in Saturday’s Alpine Skiing World Cup women’s downhill race, her 17th triumph at the Canadian layout. A day after winning the first downhill of the World Cup season, Vonn captured the second in 1:50.43 — 0.07 seconds faster than her winning time on Friday. “Today I tried to limit my risk, but at the same time my skis were so fast and the light was really flat and also it was a little more bumpy today, that I was kind of hanging on for dear life,” Vonn said. Swiss Fabienne Suter was second in 1:51.48 with Austrian Cornelia Huetter third in 1:51.59.
ALPINE SKIING
Hirscher secures win
Four-time defending World Cup overall men’s champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria won his first Cup Super-G race on Saturday, edging fellow giant slalom specialist Ted Ligety in difficult weather conditions. Hirscher won in 1:06.9 with home-snow Americans completing the podium; Ligety next in 1:07.23 for only his second Super-G podium and Andrew Weibrecht third, 0.03 seconds behind Ligety. It was the 32nd career World Cup triumph for Hirscher and it came on the same Beaver Creek layout where he won combined and team titles at this year’s World Championships as well as a 2011 World Cup giant slalom title.
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