TENNIS
Djokovic splits with coach
Novak Djokovic and coach Boris Becker are splitting after three seasons — and a half-dozen Grand Slam titles. Djokovic posted a statement on Facebook on Tuesday saying they “jointly decided to end our cooperation.” The post said: “The goals we set when we started working together have been completely fulfilled, and I want to thank him for the cooperation, teamwork, dedication and commitment. On the other hand, my professional plans are now directed primarily to maintain a good level of play, and also to make a good schedule and new goals for the next season. In this regard I will make all future decisions.” Of Djokovic’s 12 career major singles trophies, half came while working with Becker.
SOCCER
North Korea celebrate win
North Korea’s under-20 women’s soccer team paraded through the streets of Pyongyang in a flower-covered vehicle on Tuesday, celebrating their World Cup win upon their return to the nation’s capital. North Korea beat France 3-1 in the final of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea on Saturday. Footage filmed by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA, which could not be verified, showed the players greeted by North Korean officials and emotional family members at Pyongyang’s international airport. Residents cheered and waved flowers as the team paraded through the streets of Pyongyang. It was the second world title for North Korean women’s soccer this year, after their national team won the U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Jordan a little more than a month ago.
RUGBY UNION
NZ to play in Perth
The Wallabies and All Blacks are to play in Western Australia in 2019 for the first Bledisloe Cup match in Perth between the traditional rivals. The Australian Rugby Union yesterday said that Perth’s new 60,000-seat stadium will host the only Bledisloe Cup match that year before Australia and New Zealand travel to Japan for the Rugby World Cup. No date has been set for the game at the new Perth stadium, which is scheduled for completion in early 2018. Perth hosted its first rugby Test in 1998 when South Africa, which has a strong expatriate population in Perth, beat the Wallabies 14-13 at Subiaco Oval. The city has played host to 15 Australian Tests, with the Springboks having played eight.
FOOTBALL
Rashaan Salaam found dead
Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam was found dead on Monday night in a Boulder, Colorado, park near Folsom Field, where he carved his name into the University of Colorado record books as one of the greatest players in the program’s history. The Boulder County coroner’s office was still investigating the cause of the death of the 42-year-old Salaam, who won the Heisman in 1994. The body of the one-time running back was found at Eben G. Fine Park in Boulder. Police say foul play was not suspected. Salaam’s mother, Khalada, on Tuesday told USA Today Sports that police said they suspect he killed himself. “They said they found a note and would share that with us when we get there,” Salaam’s mother said. Salaam rushed for 2,055 yards and 24 touchdowns as a junior in 1994, leading the Buffaloes to an 11-1 record and a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
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