■ BASKETBALL
Williams inks new deal
Deron Williams will head to the Beijing Olympics with a new deal with his National Basketball Association team, the Utah Jazz, in his pocket. On Friday, the Jazz said the star point guard had inked a multi-year contract extension. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to the Salt Lake Tribune, Williams agreed to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth season. While the precise value of the contract will not be known until the NBA sets its salary cap next July, the Tribune reported that Williams will make nearly US$50 million in the first three years of the contract and as much as US$70 million if he exercises the option year. The 24-year-old would not be eligible for free agency until 2012 at the earliest.
■ BASEBALL
Matsui’s return uncertain
New York Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui, nursing a knee injury, admitted after meeting with doctors on Friday that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to return this season. Matsui has been on the disabled list with a left knee injury since June 23. “As of right now, I’ve been putting aside whether I can or cannot come back this season,” Matsui said through an interpreter during Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics. “My desire is I want to come back this year.” However, Matsui said, if he needs surgery on the knee, a return may not be possible. “I think the topic [surgery] is out there,” Matsui said. “The swelling kept coming back. So, right now, I was told by doctors, ‘Avoid activities and stay quiet.’”
■ ICE HOCKEY
Therrien’s contract renewed
The Pittsburgh Penguins inked coach Michel Therrien to a new contract on Friday that will keep him with the National Hockey League club through the 2010-2011 season. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Penguins did say that Therrien would receive a pay rise next season. “I’m excited to have a new three-year contract with the Penguins and am looking forward to continued success here in Pittsburgh,” said Therrien, who had one year left on his previous contract. “It is a great hockey city with an outstanding fan base.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
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