WORLD CUP
Japan win threatens toilets
Japan fans following their team’s 2-1 win over Colombia on Tuesday risked triggering a plumbing disaster when millions rushed to the toilet at halftime. After the nail-biting first 45 minutes, water use jumped 24 percent in Tokyo, the city’s Bureau of Waterworks said yesterday. “We presume it’s because a lot of people holding off on a trip to the bathroom all went at once,” an official said. “Water use can fluctuate, especially during soccer matches, which only have one break in the middle,” she added. “It also can be affected by a period of time, excitement and other factors.” Jubilant fans made another dash for the loo at the final whistle, causing another spike of 50 percent in water use. However, the bureau had anticipated the stampede and adjusted the city’s supply and pressure accordingly, the official said. The viewing rate for the fixture hit a yearly high of 48.7 percent in Japan, surpassing the 33.9 percent marked when figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu won Olympic gold in February.
WORLD CUP
Egypt to protest referee
Egypt is to formally protest to FIFA about the performance of Paraguay referee Enrique Caceres, whose decisions they feel influenced their 3-1 defeat to Russia on Tuesday. “We want an investigation into the performance of the whole refereeing team,” Egyptian Football Association president Hany Abo Rida said yesterday. Egypt felt that fullback Ahmed Fathi was pushed in the process of attempting to clear the ball two minutes into the second half and as a result steered it into his own net, Abo Rida said. He also felt there was a legitimate penalty appeal in the 78th minute for striker Marwan Mohsen, who was bundled over by Russia defender Ilya Kutepov. “The referee should have used VAR [video assistant referee] to check and award the penalty,” he said.
WORLD CUP
Games streaming in metro
Some Muscovites have found their daily commute on one of the busiest underground systems in the world flying past after city authorities began screening games in metro carriages. “It’s great! If our team was playing right now, I’d be shouting and disturbing other people, but now I am watching it calmly,” said Valery Arakelov, a Moscow resident engrossed in Australia’s encounter with Denmark on Thursday. “Some people appear to have been watching entire games while riding on the circle line,” Moscow Metro first deputy head Roman Latypov said. “We see that some of the passengers enter the metro when a match starts and they go around until the match ends, so the circle line now is extremely popular with some of the fans.”
SURFING
Israelis try to break record
Hundreds of Israeli surfers in skull-and-crossbones shirts yesterday took to the waves in what they said was a record-breaking protest against potential environmental damage from offshore gas development. Organizers said that 992 people paddled out and held hands to form a circle opposite Herzliya to demand that a planned gas rig be relocated further from the Mediterranean coast. The event is to be submitted to Guinness World Records for recognition, organizers said. Guinness lists a 511-person circle of surfers in California last year as the world-record “surfing paddle-out.”
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite