CRICKET
Windies strike back
The West Indies had England on 64-5 at lunch on the second day of the third Test at Lord’s in London yesterday after rain interrupted the first session. Kemar Roach took his third wicket of the innings as Dawid Malan (7) nicked through to wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich. Ben Stokes was on 24 not out with Jonny Bairstow yet to score at the other end. The West Indies made 123 in their first innings, with Stokes taking a career-best 6-22 with a superb display of swing bowling. An astonishing opening day saw West Indies lose their last eight wickets for 45 runs, before hitting back with the ball to revive their hopes of a first series win in England since 1988.
RUGBY UNION
Carter’s backing sought
All Blacks legend Dan Carter is expected to pledge his support for France’s bid to host the 2023 World Cup, French Rugby Federation president Bernard Laporte said on Thursday. “It’s not sewn up, but it’s looking good. He really wants to,” Laporte said of Carter’s proposed involvement at the Sept. 25 bid presentation in London. Carter retired from international rugby in 2015 after helping New Zealand win a second successive World Cup and is the leading points scorer in Test history. The 35-year-old subsequently joined Paris-based Racing 92 for the 2015-2016 campaign and led the club to the Top 14 title in his first season. France, who hosted the World Cup in 2007, face competition from Ireland and South Africa for the right to stage the 2023 tournament. The winning bid is to be announced on Nov. 15.
SOCCER
Cities line up for Cup
Forty-one North American cities, including New York, Montreal and Mexico City, have declared an interest in hosting matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup as part of the joint bid by the US, Canada and Mexico, officials said on Thursday. A shortlist of cities is to be announced later this year with 20 to 25 to be included in the final bid to world governing body FIFA. Morocco is also bidding to host the 2026 tournament, the first with an expanded 48-team format. A final decision on the host nation is to be taken by the FIFA Congress in June next year.
SOCCER
Pochettino threatens Aurier
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has threatened to “headbutt” new signing Serge Aurier if he steps out of line in a stark warning over his expected behavior at the club. The talented Ivorian rightback joined Spurs for £23 million (US$30 million) from Paris Saint-Germain on transfer deadline day last week. The deal was held up as Spurs’ request for a work permit was complicated by the suspended two-month prison sentence Aurier received after an assault on a police officer outside a Paris nightclub in May last year. The 24-year-old was also suspended by PSG last year for making a homophobic slur against former coach Laurent Blanc in a social media video. Pochettino, whose comments were published in the British press yesterday, is a strong disciplinarian and insists he will come down hard on Aurier if he steps out of line. “I said to him: ‘I will kill you’, I [would] headbutt him,” Pochettino said. “I think it was good, we had a long chat. He knows very well how we are, what we expect from him.”
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB