■ Soccer
World Cup touts start early
Touts are already offering tickets for the 2006 World Cup in Germany even though they will not go on sale until next year, FIFA said on Thursday. A Web site was shut down after a German court, advised of the offence by soccer's world governing body, found an internet provider guilty of trying to sell the non-existent tickets. "Anybody attempting to sell tickets on the internet is taking a huge risk because the tickets have not even been printed yet," Wolfgang Niersbach, vice-chairman of the FIFA committee organizing the 2006 championships, said in a statement. FIFA said it regularly monitored Web sites for illegal offers and would not be shy from taking legal action.
■ Boxing
Klitschko brothers to fight
The Klitschko brothers will fight in the US within two weeks of each other for two vacant heavyweight titles, their promoter said on Thursday. Wladimir Klitschko will take on Lamon Brewster in Las Vegas on April 10 for the WBO title. Two weeks later, his older brother, Vitali, will fight Corrie Sanders for the WBC title. The venue for that fight still remains to be set, promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl said. The WBC title was left vacant when Lennox Lewis retired earlier this month after beating Vitali Klitschko last June in Los Angeles. Klitschko was leading Lewis on all three scorecards after six rounds before deeps cuts to his eye led the fight to be stopped. Sanders, the former WBO champion from South Africa, knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in the second round last March in Germany.
■ Swimming
Ex-coach `defamed'
Former Australian national swim coach Greg Hodge was defamed by a television news program that portrayed him as a stalker, a state supreme court jury ruled yesterday. Hodge was banned last year from having contact with the national and Olympic training squads while stalking allegations against him were investigated. Emma Fuller, a 20-year-old swimmer, told a television current affairs program last October that Hodge was stalking her and that she'd applied for a restraining order. Hodge sued Channel Nine network over the program which aired Fuller's allegations that Hodge had behaved inappropriately toward her when she was a 12 and living with his family. A jury of two men and two women took 30 minutes to decide that the program had defamed Hodge. The jurors found that the program portrayed Hodge as "a pervert who had preyed upon Emma Fuller while she was a child under his care and protection" and had insinuated he was unfit to train Australia's Olympic swimmers.
■ Soccer
Blatter sticks his nose in
FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he would be happy to see one British soccer federation with Celtic and Rangers facing Manchester United and Arsenal in the same league. "It is a headache to have four British associations," Blatter was quoted as saying after watching Celtic beat Czech club Teplice 3-0 in the UEFA Cup on Thursday. "If they were together there would be a wonderful Premier League and more. But that's not up to FIFA to interfere. It is a matter for the Scottish Football Association and the English FA." England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have always had separate Football Associations.
■ Cricket
Australia all out for 233
Spin bowlers Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana shared six wickets between them yesterday as Australia slumped from a modest start to be all out for 233 in its fourth one-day international against Sri Lanka. Batting first after winning the toss, Ricky Ponting's side made a promising start amassing 28 runs for the first wicket at nearly six runs per over at Colombo's R.Premadasa Stadium. But shaky batting saw Australia slump to 3-62 by the 13th over. Later, the Australians lost their last five wickets for 32 runs to be dismissed in the 48th over. Left-arm seamer Nuwan Zoysa produced the initial breakthrough having Adam Gilchrist caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara for 14. Matthew Hayden perished attempting a sweep against Chaminda Vaas, only to be caught by Zoysa for 15. Legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi, returning to international cricket after serving a four-month ban, produced results with his third ball when No. 4 batsman Damien Martyn was caught at extra-cover by Zoysa.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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