■ ATHLETICS
Probe outlines Jones' doping
Ledgers gathered in the BALCO steroid investigation outline the detailed doping program of disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Saturday. The newspaper cited court documents filed by prosecutors in New York in support of their case against Jones, who has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about her illicit drug use. The ledgers and calendars were seized in a 2003 raid of BALCO -- the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative supplement business fingered as the source of designer steroid THG. The documents detail the doping regimen Jones followed before the Sydney Olympics, where her five medals included three golds. The International Olympic Committee stripped Jones of those medals on Dec. 13, after Jones pleaded guilty in October to making two counts of false statements to federal agents.
■ CRICKET
Racists face life bans
Fans at Australia's first Test against India could be banned from the Melbourne Cricket Ground for life if they are found to be involved in racial taunting of players and other fans, Cricket Australia (CA) said yesterday. Anyone caught doing so by undercover surveillance officers would be ejected from the ground and face further action, a CA spokesman told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper. "Our message to any mindless people who are thinking of going down that path is we won't tolerate that sort of thing," CA spokesman Peter Young told the newspaper.
■ CRICKET
England slip down rankings
England might have scrambled to a rain-affected draw against Sri Lanka on Saturday, but the result could not prevent them from slipping three places to fifth position in the ICC Test Championship table. When time was called on the match in Galle, England had battled to 251-6 thanks to 118 from Alistair Cook. But despite failing to force victory in the match, Sri Lanka took the series 1-0 and moved up to third place in the rankings. South Africa replaced England in second place ahead of their Test series against the West Indies, which starts in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. India stayed fourth but will be hoping to improve on that position when their four-Test series with Australia also gets going on Wednesday in Melbourne.
■ SNOWBOARDING
Gimpl wins Big Air cup
Stefan Gimpl won a Big Air snowboarding World Cup event on Saturday, with overall standings leader Janne Korpi coming second. Matevz Petek, last year's winner from Slovenia, was third. "It was a great evening and a great Christmas present for me and my family," Gimpl said. The 28-year-old Austrian is second in the Big Air standings, leading Gimpl 2,200 to 2,040. Korpi, from Finland, also leads the overall standings with 3,400 points, ahead of Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto, who has 2,950.
■ SOCCER
Jena fire coach after 96 days
In September, he was heralded as the rescuer of former East German champions Carl Zeiss Jena, but now Lithuanian coach Valdas Ivanauskas has been sacked just 96 days into the job. With Jena second from bottom of the Bundesliga's second division, Ivanauskas has been shown the door and replaced by unknown Henning Buerger as head coach. "We had a review of the first half of the season on Monday and decided to part company with Ivanauskas," Jena chairman Rainer Zipfel told German sports agency SID.
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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