■ BIATHLON
Kaisa Varis wins World Cup
Kaisa Varis of Finland captured her first biathlon World Cup event in Ruhpolding, Germany, on Friday when she won a women's 7.5km sprint. Varis was twice banned for doping in cross-country skiing and switched to biathlon, which adds the shooting element, after being excluded from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin by Finland's Olympic committee. She was involved in the 2001 World Championship doping scandal in Lahti, Finland, and was banned again two years later for blood doping. Varis covered the distance in 24 minutes, 9.4 seconds and had no misses on the shooting range.
■ TENNIS
Tursunov wins Sydney title
Dmitry Tursunov beat upstart Australian lefthander Chris Guccione 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) yesterday to win the Sydney International men's singles title. Tursunov, a California-based Russian, withstood a furious serving onslaught from Guccione, who only lost 10 points on his serve and had 15 aces. It was the first ATP tour final for Guccione, who had beaten compatriot and No. 6 seed Lleyton Hewitt and No. 4 seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic. Tursunov beat France's Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the semifinals while Guccione defeated Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. It was the first Sydney final since 2000 not to feature a seeded player.
■ BOXING
Berbick murderer sentenced
A nephew of former heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick was sentenced on Friday in Kingston, Jamaica, to life in prison for his murder. Harold Berbick, 21, will be eligible for parole in 20 years. His accomplice, Kenton Gordon, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter. Police said the two beat Trevor Berbick to death in October 2006 and left the 54-year-old's body in a church courtyard. Berbick, who was the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali, was deported from the US in 2002 after being convicted of sexual assault, grand theft and burglary. He fought from 1976 to 2000, finishing with a record of 50-11 with one draw and 33 knockouts.
■ RUGBY UNION
Nallet to captain France
France rugby coach Marc Lievremont announced on Friday that lock Lionel Nallet is the new team captain. Lievremont, who took over from Bernard Laporte after the 2007 World Cup, told Canal Plus television that he had chosen the 31-year-old Nallet. "I confirm that Lionel Nallet will be the captain of the French team," Lievremont said. Nallet, who has 32 caps, takes over from hooker Raphael Ibanez, who captained France to the semi-finals of the World Cup and to victory at last season's Six Nations tournament.
■ TAEKWONDO
Official denies wrongdoing
A senior official of the World Taekwondo Federation denied on Thursday that he committed any wrongdoing when he offered an envelope of cash to an IOC member. WTF secretary-general Yang Jin-suk said he would seek to prove his innocence when he appears before the International Olympic Committee ethics commission. Yang offered an envelope with US$10,000 to WTF vice president Nat Indrapana, who is also an IOC member from Thailand, at a federation meeting in November in Manchester, England, according to reports in the South Korean media and the German-based Sport Intern news letter.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the