■ HORSE RACING
Jockey fails breath test
Officials at a New Zealand race meeting on Monday breath-tested a jockey they suspected had been drinking and ruled him too drunk to handle a horse. Stewards at the Riverton Racing Club on New Zealand's South Island used a newly awarded power to demand a breath test when they became suspicious of the rider's behavior. The test showed the jockey had been drinking alcohol and he was stood down for the remainder of the meeting. The jockey now faces a disciplinary hearing and could be fined, suspended or disqualified from riding.
■ BOXING
Danny Green quits
WBA light heavyweight world champion Danny Green quit boxing yesterday, saying he wanted to protect his health and spend more time with his family. The 35-year-old Green, (25-3 with 22 knockouts) had been preparing in Sydney for a mandatory defense of his WBA title against Argentina's Hugo Garay on April 27. "I am getting out on my terms, with my dignity and respect intact," Green said. "I have made the decision of an intelligent man -- looking to 25 years in the future." Green turned professional in 2001 after coming to prominence at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and won his first 16 bouts before a fifth-round disqualification against Germany's Markus Beyer in a WBC world title challenge in August 2003. Green won the WBC interim super middleweight belt with a sixth-round stoppage of Canadian Eric Lucas four months later, before a second loss -- this time on points -- to Beyer in March 2005.
■ BOXING
Judah expresses confidence
Zab Judah is so sure he's going to stop Shane Mosley he's willing to put his money on it. Judah offered to bet Mosley US$100,000 that he's going to win their welterweight bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on May 31 by knockout. "That's free money," the 30-year-old Judah said on Monday at a news conference to publicize the fight. "If he's so confident and so much in shape, then why didn't he take it? The last time I put a US$100,000 bet on the table was against Corey Spinks. What did I do? I knocked him out." Judah is 36-5 with 25 knockouts. "He's getting knocked out May 31," Judah said. "He's older now and he's not as fast. I've been talking to Winky [Wright] and Vernon [Forrest] and they tell me his punching power is not the same. I'm a 100 percent better fighter." The 36-year-old Mosley held the WBC and WBA light-middleweight championships from September 2003 to March 2004.
■ HORSE RACING
Rags to Riches retired
Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches was retired on Monday. Rags to Riches was the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont, edging Preakness Stakes winner Curlin by a head in a thrilling duel last June at Belmont Park in New York. The champion three-year-old filly will be shipped to Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky. She will be bred to leading sire Giant's Causeway. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Rags to Riches finished her career with five wins in seven starts and earned US$1.3 million. Rags to Riches finished second in her last race, the Gazelle Stakes at Belmont last Sept. 15. The day after, it was discovered she had a hairline fracture of her right front pastern. The filly recently re-injured the pastern -- an area between the ankle and the hoof. "It's a sad day for racing and all of her fans," Pletcher said in a statement.
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
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
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
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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