SOCCER
Garcia to start from bench
Former Liverpool player Luis Garcia is likely to start from the bench when he makes his A-League debut today for the Central Coast Mariners against the Western Sydney Wanderers. The 37-year-old Garcia, who played his previous competitive match almost a year ago, looked fresh and fit when he trained with the Mariners for the first time yesterday in heavy rain. The former Spain international said he was nervous before training with his new teammates for the first time. Soaked after the 90-minute session, he joked: “They told me it was nice weather here.” Mariners coach Tony Walmsley said he would likely hand Francesco Stella an A-League debut in the No. 10 jersey and Garcia would come off the bench as his workload was carefully managed.
CYCLING
Gerrans wins stage
Australian Simon Gerrans won a feisty sprint finish to claim yesterday’s 138km fourth stage of the Tour Down Under, setting himself up for his fourth overall victory in the event. Gerrans, who also won Thursday’s third stage in a sprint, had the advantage going into the fifth stage today, a 151.5km stretch from McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill in South Australia State. “I’m absolutely thrilled with that,” the 35-year-old said, while thanking his team for making his run “as easy as possible.” Gerrans, the overall winner of the Tour Down Under in 2006, 2012 and 2014, will be hoping experience pays off when it comes to Willunga Hill. However, the Orica GreenEdge leader is taking nothing for granted, having been caught in a mass pile-up inside the final kilometer of Wednesday’s stage just after putting himself in a perfect position to take the stage win. “I still have to be very, very attentive going into Willunga tomorrow [today]. We have a nice little buffer there, but there’s still a heck of a lot of work to be done,” he said. In the general classifications, Gerrans (13 hours, 41 minutes, 58 seconds) leads fellow Australians Jay McCarthy (14 seconds back) and Rohan Dennis (26 seconds back).
RUGBY SEVENS
Quade Cooper joins squad
Quade Cooper has joined Australia’s rugby sevens program and is available for selection for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the condensed version of the sport is to make its debut. The Australian Rugby Union yesterday announced that Cooper would be released by his French club, Toulon, for the Sydney, Paris and London stages of the Sevens World Series. An attacking flyhalf, Cooper has 58 Test caps for the Wallabies and has played at two World Cups. Australia finished third in 2011 and were runners-up to the All Blacks last year. “As a rugby player growing up, you never think you’ll have the chance to play at an Olympics, so I’ll be doing everything I can to make the squad,” Cooper said.
BASKETBALL
Knicks top ‘Forbes’ ranking
The New York Knicks are the most valuable team in the NBA at US$3 billion, one of 13 NBA clubs valued at more than US$1 billion this week by Forbes magazine. The Knicks returned to the top spot on Forbes’ list after a one-year absence when the Los Angeles Lakers claimed it last year. Forbes said the 20 percent rise in its valuation of the Knicks was fueled by the club’s new cable television deal and the fact that the Knicks have the highest premium-seating revenue in the league. The Lakers were second on the list at US$2.7 billion.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two