FOOTBALL
Rodgers out for season
Aaron Rodgers was on Tuesday placed on injured reserve for the remainder of the season by the Green Bay Packers a day after they were eliminated from the playoff hunt. Rodgers returned from an eight-week absence with a broken right collarbone on Sunday in a 31-24 loss to Carolina, being struck seven times and sacked three times. The Packers (7-7) were eliminated from playoff contention when Atlanta edged Tampa Bay 24-21 on Monday.
TENNIS
Bartoli to return next year
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli on Tuesday announced that she would return to professional tennis next year after more than four years in retirement. The Frenchwoman shocked the tennis world when she quit the sport in 2013, a little more than a month after winning her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, saying her body could no longer keep up with the demands of the sport.
SOCCER
Romario eyes CBF term
Former Brazil striker and 1994 World Cup champion Romario on Tuesday said he plans to run for president of the scandal-plagued Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) on an anti-corruption platform. Romario, 51, now a senator who has led congressional investigations into corruption in Brazilian soccer, announced his intention four days after CBF president Marco Polo del Nero was suspended for 90 days by FIFA for alleged unethical conduct. “No one has fought so vigorously against that gang than me and so I am a legitimate candidate,” Romario said on Instagram. He blamed former FIFA president Joao Havelange for installing a “system” of graft in Brazilian soccer and beyond.
FOOTBALL
Pro Bowl to have 8 Steelers
Star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, top receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell were among an NFL-high eight Pittsburgh Steelers named on Tuesday for next year’s Pro Bowl. Joining the three will be offensive linemen Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey, plus kicker Chris Boswell and linebacker Ryan Shazier, who had a season-ending spinal injury earlier this month. They are set to star for the American Conference against their rivals from the National Conference in the matchup, set for Jan. 28 in Orlando, Florida.
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