■ Auto Racing
Aussies introduce new car
Alan Jones, the 1980 Formula One world drivers' champion, on Wednesday launched the Australian car to contest the new A1 series, which is being billed as the world cup of auto racing. Sheik Maktoum Hasher Maktoum, a member of Dubai's ruling family, is founder of the series that will feature 25 national teams competing on an unusually even footing. Each of the 25 countries -- ranging from Lebanon to China to the US -- will have one entry apiece, owned and driven by a local competitor and with local sponsors. All of the cars will be the same: 550hp Zytec-powered open wheelers that Maktoum has bought from Britain's Lola Cars. The 10-race series is scheduled to start Sept. 25 at Brands Hatch, England, and finish the following April. Real Madrid soccer star Ronaldo will own the Brazilian franchise, Maktoum announced earlier this month.
■ Drug Panel
Big names appointed
Russian ice hockey great Viacheslav Fetisov and Olympic and world champion swimmer Janet Evans were among 13 members appointed to the newly formed athletics committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday in Montreal. The purpose of the committee is to allow WADA closer contact with athletes and to give the agency better insight into their concerns regarding doping. Fetisov was selected chairman of the committee, which was approved by WADA's executive committee in November. He played for the Soviet Union when it was the dominant power in international ice hockey, and later had a long career in the NHL. He is serving as Russia's Minister of Sport. Evans won three gold medals for the USat the 1988 Olympics, and a gold and silver at the 1992 Games.
■ Steroid Testing
NFL pressures union
The NFL reportedly will ask the players' union to agree to stronger testing for steroids. The New York Times reported in yesterday's editions that the league was following the lead of Olympic sports in seeking more stringent testing for testosterone. No date for a meeting with the players has been set, but any changes in the testing procedures require consent from the NFL Players Association.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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