■BRAZIL
Adriano to take a break
Brazil and Inter striker Adriano said on Thursday he was taking a break from soccer and would rethink his career. “I’ve lost the happiness of playing,” he told reporters. “I wouldn’t like to go back to Italy, I want to live in peace here in Brazil. I wasn’t unhappy in Italy. I don’t know if I’m going to stay for one, two or thee months without playing. I’m going to rethink my career.” Adriano failed to return to Italy after last week’s World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Peru, in which he was an unused substitute. On Monday, his agent Gilmar Rinaldo said Adriano had stayed in Brazil because of a private matter and confirmed the player had spent time in the Vila Cruzeiro favela, where he was raised.
■SERBIA
Police arrest 95 in Belgrade
Police arrested 95 fans and pressed charges against 25 of them following violence at the Belgrade derby between bitter rivals Partizan and Red Star, the Serbian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. “The hooligans who face legal action have been charged with assault on police officers, violent behavior, causing general danger as well as the possession and sale of narcotics,” it said. Red Star Belgrade fans clashed with riot police before Wednesday’s match and set fire to seats in the north tier of Partizan’s stadium after the final whistle, forcing fire brigades to move in. The fixture has a history of crowd trouble dating back to times when Serbia was still a part of the former Yugoslavia.
■ENGLAND
Police drop Mourinho case
Inter boss Jose Mourinho will not face police action after allegations that he punched a supporter outside Old Trafford, police sources said on Thursday. A Manchester United fan claimed he was hit in the face by the Portuguese manager following last month’s Champions League tie between United and Inter. Mourinho, 46, was said to have clashed with a man close to the Inter team bus shortly before midnight on March 11 after his side’s 2-0 defeat. The supporter alleged common assault, although he was not thought to be seriously injured, and Greater Manchester Police approached the Old Trafford club to view CCTV footage of the area. But the case has been dropped.
■ROMANIA
Piturca gets the sack
Victor Piturca was on Thursday sacked as Romania coach after a disappointing run of results that looks to have derailed the country’s bid to appear at next year’s World Cup. “Piturca has been relieved of his post,” said Dumitru Dragomir, head of the Romanian professional soccer league. “We haven’t decided on his replacement, that will be made later on.” Romania’s most recent defeat, a 2-1 loss to Austria on April 1, dropped them to fifth place in Group 7, with only four points from five matches — effectively ending any hopes they had of qualifying for next year’s showpiece. Group 7 is being led by Serbia on 12 points, with France on 10 points, Lithuania on nine and Austria on seven.
■ENGLAND
Much interest in the Saints
The administrators running ailing English Championship side Southampton said on Thursday that 31 parties had expressed an interest in buying the club. The Saints’ parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings, went into administration last week with reported debts of £27.5 million (US$40.5 million). The Football League is considering whether to penalize the club 10 points which would result in their almost certain relegation to the third tier of English soccer for the first time in 49 years.
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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