SOCCER
Raid over Ronaldo no-show
South Korean police on Thursday raided a sports agency as part of a fraud inquiry after Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo sat out a friendly last month in Seoul, enraging thousands of fans. The raid was intended to investigate whether The Fasta agency lied by claiming Ronaldo was guaranteed to play, police said. A criminal complaint accuses The Fasta of swindling about 6 billion won (US$4.96 million) of ticket sales by saying that the contract with the Italian club obliged Ronaldo to play for at least 45 minutes, and not warning buyers that he might not appear. The striker stayed on the bench throughout the game, with Juventus saying he was rested on medical advice because of muscle fatigue.
SOCCER
Aussie preservation push
Greater emphasis is to be placed on celebrating and preserving Australia’s rich, but often overlooked, soccer history after an official heritage committee was announced yesterday. Football Federation Australia said that it is acting on one of the new board’s priorities to recognize the game’s history by launching plans to centralize memorabilia collected over time, with a longer-term ambition to establish a soccer museum. As part of the push, the federation is to introduce annual awards to recognize those who have played a significant part in the game throughout its history in Australia.
SOCCER
Neymar rape case dropped
Brazilian prosecutors are dropping a rape case against Neymar, they said on Thursday, likely bringing an end to the most serious of charges against the Paris Saint Germain striker. The former Brazil captain was accused of raping a model in a Paris hotel room, but he alleged that the encounter was consensual and prosecutors could not find evidence to contradict that. A judge must now sign off on the decision that had been recommended by police, but Neymar’s family celebrated the announcement as the end of the matter. “Son, let’s make our life move on and on, always with the head held high, the heart calm and the peace and quiet of the innocent,” Neymar Sr said. He still faces a separate inquiry into whether he committed a crime by posting intimate photographs online.
RUNNING
Ruiz ‘race cutter’ dies at 66
Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in 1980 and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports, has died at 66. Ruiz, who was also known as Rosie Vivas, died in Florida of cancer on July 8, an obituary said. An unknown who did not look or act like she had just run 42km, Ruiz finished first in the women’s division in Boston in 1980 in a then-record time of 2 hours, 31 minutes, 56 seconds. Even as she was awarded her medal and olive wreath, her competitors wondered how a woman they had not ever heard of — or seen on the course — could have won. Grilled by the Boston Athletic Association about her training methods and pace, she had no answers and did not seem to recognize terms that would be common for elite marathoners; she also could not identify landmarks she would have passed on the course. Two Harvard students soon came forward to say they saw her join the race near Kenmore Square near the finish.
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