■ Rugby league
Club chief resigns
The chief executive of an Australian rugby league team facing multiple rape allegations by a number of its players resigned yesterday. Steve Mortimer, a former Canterbury and Australian international halfback, said the Bulldogs, a western Sydney team, would be best served with another person in charge. "The last few weeks have been traumatic and gut-wrenching for all concerned, but now is the time for healing, and for those who genuinely care about the club to turn their attention and energy to rebuilding it," said Mortimer. The Bulldogs are under police investigation over the alleged multiple sexual assault of a woman at Coffs Harbour, on the northern New South Wales coast, on Feb. 22. Mortimer is the second casualty of the scandal with football manager Garry Hughes fired last week for failing to enforce the club's code of conduct.
■ Soccer
Police investigate violence
Police yesterday were investigating "large scale" crowd violence before and after the Premier League game between south coast rivals Portsmouth and Southampton. Eight people were arrested, several injured and one man taken to a hospital after Portsmouth fans clashed with police following the 1-0 home win at Fratton Park on Sunday. Cars were damaged, local shop windows smashed and coins and other objects thrown. Around 400 police officers, police dogs and horses were involved in restoring order. "It is extremely disappointing that a very small vocal minority chose to attack police and visiting supporters and attempted to spoil this much anticipated event for everyone," Chief Superindendent Dan Clacher said.
■ Soccer
Rumor sparks abandonment
A "derby" match between Rome arch-rivals Lazio and AS Roma was abandoned on Sunday after false rumors circulated among fans that a child had been killed by a police car outside the stadium. No official reason was immediately available for the decision -- almost certainly unprecedented -- to stop the game early in the second half. The ANSA news agency said the abandonment was made "for public order reasons." Reporters at the ground said rumors circulated among the 70,000 crowd that a child had been knocked down and killed by a police car outside the Olympic Stadium. The match was four minutes into the second half when a fan walked on to the pitch behind the Roma goal to interrupt the match with the rumor. The police department of Rome quickly denied the rumor -- the denial was heard on the stadium loudspeakers -- but after a 15-minute delay the players agreed to abandon the match.
■ Soccer
Ferdinand halts appeal
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will not take the fight against his eight-month ban for missing a drugs test to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), he was quoted as saying in The Sun newspaper yesterday. A three-man independent board dismissed an appeal by Ferdinand on Thursday and upheld his conviction leaving him and his club with the option of an appeal to CAS in Switzerland. The 25-year-old England international, the world's most expensive defender, was quoted in The Sun as saying: "I still think the ban was harsh and that I have been made an example of. But I've decided it is time this came to an end. When my appeal was rejected last Thursday my first reaction was to keep going. But I've had a chance to think about it and don't feel it would serve my purpose by dragging it out."
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS