■ BASEBALL
Maddux wins Gold Glove
San Diego Padres pitcher Greg Maddux on Tuesday won his record 17th Gold Glove, while Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis earned his first award for fielding excellence in Major League Baseball. Detroit catcher Ivan Rodriguez won for the 13th time and outfielders Andruw Jones, Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter added to their totals. The Colorado Rockies, who set an MLB record for fielding percentage, did not have a winner. Maddux broke a tie with Baltimore third-baseman Brooks Robinson and pitcher Jim Kaat for the most Gold Gloves, awarded in each league to the best fielding players at their position. Detroit second-baseman Placido Polanco was among 10 first-time winners. Polanco did not make an error this season. Suzuki won his seventh in a row, earning the honor after shifting from right field to center for Seattle.
■ SOCCER
Liverpool stadium approved
Liverpool was given permission to build a new 60,000-seat stadium on Tuesday. The decision by Liverpool City Council's planning committee allows the club to move from the 115-year-old Anfield Stadium, which seats 45,300, to the new venue, which will be built in the adjacent Stanley Park. The ?400 million (US$834.2 million) stadium will have the potential to increase its capacity to 76,000. The original stadium plans were altered after input from owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, two US businessmen who took over the Reds in March. The plans were then resubmitted to the council. Work will start by the end of the year, and Liverpool hopes to begin using the stadium in 2011.
■ INTEGRATION
Stofile rules out quotas
South African Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile ruled out racial quotas for national teams on Tuesday after the mainly white Springboks' recent victory in the rugby World Cup reignited the debate over transformation. "Quotas are out. Let us put our resources into the development of talent," Stofile told a parliamentary sports committee. Stofile said black children, mostly poor, needed proper nutrition and facilities to help them develop the bone structure and muscle tone required for sports participation from an early age. About 200 million rand (US$30 million) would be needed for this purpose annually, said Stofile, who argued for the creation of a national developmental rugby squad.
■ BASKETBALL
Lakers tickets cost most
The average price of a Los Angeles Lakers season ticket is US$89.24, the highest in the NBA, a Team Marketing Report survey showed on Tuesday. That was an increase of 4.5 percent from last season. Lakers owner Jerry Buss said last month the team would look to trade Kobe Bryant, who criticized management and asked to be dealt last spring. But fans likely would prefer to have the two-time NBA scoring champion in town, since a family of four pays an average of US$453.95 a night to see the Lakers, also tops in the league, the survey's Fan Cost Index showed. The Fan Cost Index is based on four average-price tickets, two small draft beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two least-expensive, adult-size adjustable caps. The league average is US$281.90.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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