■ BOXING
Caballero downs Molitor
Panama’s Celestino Caballero registered a fourth-round technical knockout of Steve Molitor, taking the Canadian’s IBF super bantamweight title belt at the Casino Rama on Friday. Caballero (31-2, 22 knockouts) also successfully defended his World Boxing Association belt and handed the Canadian his first career loss. It was Caballero’s 12th consecutive victory. The 32-year-old was booed on his way to the ring by the crowd, which was stunned at the result in the first unification bout ever on Canadian soil. Fighting in his native province of Ontario, Molitor (28-1) had no answer to Caballero’s strength and relentless pressure from the opening bell.
■ CRICKET
Bradman dropped from test
Australia is to modify a test for prospective new citizens to exclude questions on history and culture, specifically cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman, a government minister said yesterday. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said that following a review by seven eminent Australians, the Labor government had decided to modify the test, saying it should not be a “general knowledge quiz.” The test was introduced under former prime minister John Howard and originally included a controversial section on Australian history and culture. Bradman, who still has the highest career Test batting average of 99.94 more than half a century after he retired from Test cricket, is a national icon and legend in Australia. He died in 2001. Shortly before Bradman’s death at the age of 92, former prime minister Howard named him as the “greatest living Australian.”
■ BASEBALL
White Sox to sign Viciedo
The White Sox have reached a tentative agreement with young Cuban star Dayan Viciedo. The 19-year-old must pass a physical for the contract to be finalized, said the player’s agent, Jaime Torres. “He has agreed to a deal and is flying to Chicago,” Torres said on Friday. The contract was reported earlier by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. The White Sox have been successful in signing Cuban players. Last off-season they landed infielder Alexei Ramirez, who eventually became their starting second baseman and batted .290 with 21 homers and 77 RBIs. He finished runner-up in the American League Rookie of the Year.
■ BASKETBALL
Knicks re-tool their squad
The New York Knicks began to re-tool their National Basketball Association squad, trading guard Jamal Crawford and forward Zach Randolph in separate deals on Friday. New York sent Crawford to the Golden State Warriors for disgruntled forward Al Harrington. Later on Friday, the Knicks dealt Randolph and seldom-used Mardy Collins to the West Coast, acquiring guard Cuttino Mobley and forward Tim Thomas from the Los Angeles Clippers for the duo. The trades strip New York of its top two scorers in Randolph (20.6 points per game) and Crawford (19.6 points per game) and allows the Knicks to clear enough salary cap space by 2010 to make a run at LeBron James.
■ FOOTBALL
Rookie Ainge suspended
New York Jets rookie quarterback Erik Ainge was suspended for four games by the NFL on Friday for an undisclosed violation of the league’s policy on steroids and related substances. Ainge, already on injured reserve and out for the season with a foot injury, is not allowed to be with the team or at its facility during the suspension. He’ll be eligible to rejoin the team on Dec. 15, following the Jets’ game against Buffalo.
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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