AFRICA
Favorites reach semi-finals
Favorites the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Ivory Coast needed extra-time goals to beat Rwanda and Cameroon to reach the semi-finals of the African Nations Championship on Saturday. DR Congo beat hosts Rwanda 2-1 in the first quarter-final at a soldout Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali. Doxa Gikanji put the Leopards into an 11th-minute lead when he hit a wonderful lob over the Rwanda goalkeeper. Jean Claude Iranzi was lucky to escape with only a caution for a reckless challenge on DR Congo forward Jonathan Bolingi and it was Iranzi who set up Rwanda’s equalizer on 56 minutes. Iranzi played in Ernest Sugira and the AS Kigali striker fired past DR Congo goalkeeper Ley Matampi for his third goal of the tournament. DR Congo then took control in extra-time and after two missed opportunities, Botuli Bompunga headed home the winner in the 113th minute to break the hearts of the host nation. In Butare, reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions Ivory Coast overcame Cameroon 3-0. After a goalless 90 minutes, second-half substitute Koffi Boua broke the deadlock five minutes into extra-time. Two other goals from Atcho Djobo (102) and Serge N’Guessan (112) were enough to send the Elephants into the last four, where they meet either Tunisia or Mali.
ASIA
Japan stun South Korea
Japan won the AFC Under-23 Championship with a thrilling victory in Doha on Saturday, overturning a two-goal deficit to stun South Korea 3-2. The winner came in the 81st minute from substitute Takuma Asano. Asano had started the comeback, scoring Japan’s first in the 67th minute after they trailed 2-0 early on in the second half. Within a minute of Asano’s first, Japan were level after Shinya Yajima struck. It was heartbreaking for South Korea, who had taken the lead in the 23rd minute thanks to a deflected shot from Kwon Chang-hoon. Then a brilliant turn and finish by Jin Seong-uk in the 47th minute doubled their advantage, but the match proved far from over. Both sides qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics later this year after getting through to the final of the two-week long championship held in Qatar. Iraq finished third and were the other team to qualify for the Games. Hosts Qatar agonizingly finished in fourth position, just outside the Olympic qualification places.
ENGLAND
Bamford loaned to Canaries
Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford joined Norwich City on loan for the rest of the season on Saturday, the fifth time he has been sent out on a temporary deal from Stamford Bridge. The 22-year-old spent the first half of the season on loan at Crystal Palace, but it ended in controversy when he said his spell there had been “terrible,” a comment he later retracted with an apology. The former England Under-21 forward has yet to make a first-team appearance for Chelsea, but he has played more than 100 games on loan at MK Dons, Derby County, Middlesbrough and Palace.
ENGLAND
Black Cats sign Khazri
Sunderland have signed Tunisian midfielder Wahbi Khazri from Girondins de Bordeaux on a four-and-a-half-year contract, the relegation-threatened Premier League club announced on Saturday. The Tunisia international, 24, arrived for an undisclosed fee that British press reports said was about £9 million (US$12.8 million). Born on the French island of Corsica, Khazri began his career with SC Bastia and joined Bordeaux in 2014. He played more than 50 games for Bordeaux, scoring 14 goals.
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
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later