■RUGBY UNION
Johnson says no to top job
The Wallabies' assistant coach Scott Johnson has withdrawn from the selection process to succeed John Connolly as Australia's next head rugby coach, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said yesterday. Johnson was one of six candidates scheduled to be interviewed yesterday, but confirmed he was withdrawing from the interview process. "It's a personal decision and we respect that," ARU high performance manager Pat Howard said. "The process will continue with the [other] five and a recommendation will be made out of that," Howard said.
■ SOCCER
Inter, Pele aid celebrations
A fit-again Marco Materazzi helped the Inter Milan under-19s beat Sheffield FC 5-2 in a match celebrating the 150th anniversary of the world's first soccer club on Thursday. Sheffield FC, an amateur side playing eight divisions below the English Premier League, were formed in October 1857 and introduced the original 11 rules of soccer. Those faded documents were unveiled for the first time in 40 years by Pele at the club museum hours earlier at Bramall Lane, the oldest stadium still hosting professional matches.
■ BASEBALL
Tampa Bay reinvents itself
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are gone. Trying to reinvent itself, the perennial last-place Major League Baseball team officially shortened its nickname to simply the "Rays" during a celebration that brought a crowd of about 7,000 to a downtown park in St Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday. New team colors and uniforms also were unveiled during a fashion show featuring current players, as well as manager Joe Maddon, senior advisor Don Zimmer and former Tampa Bay stars Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff as models. Navy blue and light blue have replaced green and black as the primary colors.
■ RUGBY UNION
'Boks lift overseas ban
South Africa's rugby bosses on Thursday lifted the ban on overseas-based players not being eligible for national selection. The decision means the likes of World Cup-winning Springboks captain John Smit, lock Victor Matfield, flyhalf Butch James, fullback Percy Montgomery and hooker Gary Botha -- who have all signed up to play for clubs in Europe during the next year -- will still be available to play for the Springboks. There are well over 100 South African born players plying their trade at clubs in England, France, Italy and Ireland.
■ CYCLING
Adidas to pull sponsorship
Adidas will end its sponsorship of T-Mobile because of more doping revelations around the German cycling team. Telekom, the team's main sponsor, also is considering terminating its relationship with the team, which bears the name of its subsidiary. That could lead car company Audi and bike manufacturer Giant to follow suit. "Obviously it's a long story of doping and discussions with Telekom," Jan Runau, Adidas Group spokesman, said on Thursday. "We have told Telekom of our decision and we are in talks to get out of the contract early." Runau said Adidas, whose contract runs through to next year, has been talking to Telekom about the doping problems since last year's scandal-ridden Tour de France. The companies have other intertwining sponsorships, including Bayern Munich and Germany's national team.
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
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
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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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