HOCKEY
Players suing over injuries
The NHL is being sued by former players Daniel Carcillo and Nick Boynton, who allege that the league withheld information about the long-term health dangers from concussion-related injuries. The lawsuit claims that the NHL did not adequately warn and inform players about brain damage risks caused by contact to the head. Carcillo and Boynton charge the league with allowing and encouraging players to rush back to action while recovering from concussions. Carcillo, who played for five teams over nine seasons, and Boynton, six teams in 11 seasons, suffer from long-term, degenerative brain damage. “The NHL is long overdue in acknowledging the significant risks inherent in their style of game,” Gibbs said in a press release, while Carcillo said: “I’m doing this on behalf of all former NHL players that are struggling with the difficulties of transitioning from a life in the NHL with brains that have been damaged.”
BASEBALL
Osuna barred for 75 games
Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna has agreed to a suspension through Aug. 4 under the MLB’s domestic violence policy, discipline that would cause him to miss about half of the season. Osuna has not pitched since May 6, two days before he was put on administrative leave when he was charged with one count of assault in Toronto. The league on Friday said the suspension is retroactive to May 8 and covers 75 games. “I don’t have much of a reaction other than you take what MLB does and trust that and live with that and let it go through its course,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “We knew something was coming down. Actually, it took a while. Hopefully, it all gets worked out on both sides and everyone gets the help they need and everything works out fine.” Osuna is to participate in a confidential evaluation and treatment program supervised by the joint policy board of the MLB and the players’ association.
BETTING
Rhode Island passes budget
Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo on Friday signed a US$9.6 billion budget for next fiscal year that legalizes sports betting and gives the state 51 percent of the revenues from the wagers. The budget for the fiscal year starting on July 1 counts on US$23.5 million of new revenue, although the activity is not expected to go live until Oct. 1.
CRICKET
Tampering ban upheld
Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal is to miss the third and final Test against the West Indies after his appeal against a ball-tampering ban was dismissed by a judicial commissioner. The 28-year-old was charged with ball tampering during last week’s Saint Lucia Test after video evidence indicated he took sweets out of his pocket and put them in his mouth before applying saliva to the ball within the space of a few seconds. “The judicial commissioner ... has dismissed Dinesh Chandimal’s appeal after the Sri Lanka captain was found guilty of changing the condition of the ball,” the International Cricket Council said in a statement. Judicial Commissioner Michael Beloff is to hold another hearing on July 10 to determine sanctions against Chandimal, coach Chandika Hathurusinghe and manager Asanka Gurusinha for “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game.” The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown was yesterday to host the first day-night test in the Caribbean with the hosts 1-0 up in the series.
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