■ 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.
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
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