SUMO
Wrestlers face beard ban
Officials have introduced a crackdown on beards, calling them “indecent.” The ban is part of fresh regulations that also bar tattoos and long nails, a Japan Sumo Association spokesman said yesterday, as authorities look to clean up the sport’s image. “Items such as long nails, tattoos and beards grown out of an excessive wish for good luck shall be banned,” the spokesman said. Wrestlers often decline to shave their beards during tournaments as they believe it brings them luck. “Officials and referees will be on the lookout. The sumo ring is sacred and it’s important spectators don’t see anything unsightly,” association elder Oguruma said.
ATHLETICS
Ranking system announced
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Tuesday announced a first-ever world ranking system for competitors. “Rankings will be based upon the points [athletes] score, determined by their performance and place, and the importance of the competition,” it said in a statement. IAAF president Sebastian Coe said it would also make the sport easier to follow. “For the first time in the sport’s history, athletes, media and fans will have a clear understanding of the hierarchy of competitions ... allowing them to follow a logical season-long path to the pinnacle of athletics’ top two competitions,” he said. The rankings would not be used for qualification for this year’s world championships in Doha, but Coe said that was the longer-term aim.
BASKETBALL
Kareem auctioning rings
An auction featuring four of Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA championship rings is to run until Saturday. The league’s all-time leading scorer is auctioning rings he won with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980, 1985, 1987 and 1988, plus other game-used and autographed memorabilia. Abdul-Jabbar, 71, earlier this month wrote on his Web site that “much of the proceeds” would benefit his Skyhook Foundation, a charity that helps kids learn about science, technology, engineering and math. “When it comes to choosing between storing a championship ring or trophy in a room or providing kids with an opportunity to change their lives, the choice is pretty simple. Sell it all,” he wrote.
SKIING
Bad timing for Swiss clocks
In a nation renowned for precision clocks and skiing, Swiss timekeepers of a World Cup race got things so wrong that the results of a women’s downhill had to be altered three days after it was run — with two skiers knocked off the podium as a result. The fiasco stemmed from faulty finish-line timing, which had already caused organizers to amend the results once on Saturday last week shortly after the race ended. Having to change it a second time left the International Ski Federation (FIS) and Swiss Timing facing ridicule. “Is FIS a joke????” French skier Julien Lizeroux wrote on Twitter. The electronic clock failed to stop for four racers, who were later manually given times. “The reason that the four times were not recorded was as a consequence of the set-up of the photo cells at the finish, which were mounted too high,” FIS said. “After two training days the snow level was somewhat lower due to the multiple runs and slipping on the course, as well as melting due to the sunlight.”
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