RUGBY UNION
Bristol release Borthwick
The English Rugby Football Union (RFU) on Saturday announced that Bristol have agreed to release Steve Borthwick so that he can join England’s coaching team under new head coach Eddie Jones. The former England captain, 36, agreed personal terms with the RFU earlier this week, only for second-tier side Bristol to block his appointment on the grounds that he had been contacted without the club’s permission. The stand-off was embarrassing for the RFU, which had hoped that by appointing Jones it would draw a line beneath the humiliation of England’s Rugby World Cup group-stage exit on home soil in October.
ICE HOCKEY
Hall of Famer Moore dies
Hall of Fame member Dickie Moore, a six-time Stanley Cup winner and one of the greatest NHL players of all-time, passed away on Saturday, 18 days before his 85th birthday. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1974, the Montreal Canadiens left wing twice won the Art Ross Trophy as NHL leading scorer and won six Stanley Cups with Montreal, including five in a row from 1956. “Dickie Moore was a player of great skill and even-greater heart, someone admired on the ice for his will to win and adored in the community for his commitment to good deeds,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in statement. In 14 NHL seasons, Moore had 261 goals and 608 points in 719 games. He also had 110 points in 135 playoff games. The Hockey News magazine ranked Moore No. 31 in its list of the 50 greatest hockey players in 1998. In 2005, Montreal retired No. 12 for Moore, as well as fellow Hall of Fame member Yvan Cournoyer.
BASKETBALL
Pacers’ Paul George fined
The Indiana Pacers’ Paul George has been hit with a US$35,000 fine after criticizing officials and swearing during a television interview, the NBA said in a statement on Saturday. George was unhappy with a series of calls after the Pacers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 104-97 on Friday. “The stripes [were] terrible... It is frustrating, but hopefully the league does a better job of looking at shit like this,” George told Fox Sports Indiana. George contributed 23 points and 10 rebounds in the win, but also gave up seven turnovers. It is not the first time George has been fined for criticizing match officials. He was fined US$10,000 after the Pacers opening game of the season when they were beaten 106-99 by the Toronto Raptors. Last year, he was ordered to pay US$25,000 by the NBA after suggesting that a Pacers defeat to the Miami Heat was caused by biased refereeing, or “home cooking.”
TENNIS
Rodionova to miss Open
Russian-born Australian Arina Rodionova has fallen one match short of gaining a wild-card entry into next month’s Australian Open, losing the deciding match a day after her marriage. Teenager Maddison Inglis beat Rodionova 6-4, 6-2 in the women’s wild-card final yesterday to gain entry to the main draw of the Grand Slam tournament beginning on Jan. 18. Rodionova had won her semi-final on Saturday morning, which was rescheduled to accommodate her afternoon wedding to Australian Football League player Ty Vickery. There was also some family drama in the men’s final: James Duckworth won by walkover when his opponent, Ben Mitchell, had to rush back to Brisbane to be with his partner for the birth of their first child.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Lewis Hamilton on Thursday said there was a “racial element” to International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Mohammed ben Sulayem’s recent comments regarding drivers swearing during Formula 1 races. In an interview with motorsport.com, Ben Sulayem said: “We have to differentiate between our sport — motorsport — and rap music” when referring to drivers having a responsibility to stop swearing on the radio. “We’re not rappers, you know,” Ben Sulayem said. Responding to those remarks ahead of tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix, seven-time champion Hamilton said: “With what he said, I don’t like how he has expressed it. Saying ‘rappers’ is very stereotypical.” “If you