■SOCCER
Tosic joins CSKA Moscow
Manchester United have sold Serbia winger Zoran Tosic to CSKA Moscow for an undisclosed fee. The English club’s Web site said on Tuesday that Tosic has signed a five-year deal with the Russian team. Tosic, currently on World Cup duty with Serbia, arrived in Manchester from Partizan Belgrade in January last year, receiving a UK work permit after United manager Alex Ferguson made a personal plea to authorities. However, Tosic made just five appearances as a substitute for United, who loaned him to German side Cologne in January. Cologne said earlier this week they could not afford to keep the 23-year-old Tosic.
■TENNIS
Dementieva pulls out
Women’s world No. 5 Elena Dementieva has pulled out of Wimbledon with a calf injury. The Russian was injured at the French Open this month, forcing her to retire during her semi-final against Francesca Schiavone. She has still not recovered, she said on her Web site on Tuesday. Olympic champion Dementieva reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year, and has reached the final of the French Open and US Open during her career.
■TENNIS
Muster, 42, returns to circuit
Austrian former world No. 1 Thomas Muster has announced his comeback to the ATP circuit at the age of 42 — 11 years after playing his last match on the professional tour. The 1995 French Open champion said yesterday he had accepted a wild card for the Nord/LB Open ATP challenger event starting on June 25 in Braunschweig, Germany. He said he was planning to appear in more events on the second-tier circuit. Clay-court specialist Muster, who won 44 ATP Tour titles, said he “still loves competitive tennis ... I won’t set my goals too high but will just play my best tennis and we’ll see where it brings me.”
■SOCCER
Silverdome to host AC Milan
The Pontiac Silverdome will host its first major soccer match in 16 years when AC Milan and Panathinaikos meet on Aug. 6. The Silverdome was the host to four first-round games during the 1994 World Cup — the first time World Cup matches had been played indoors — but the stadium has mainly sat empty since NFL club Pittsburgh Steelers used it as their practice facility for the 2006 Super Bowl. The Silverdome, which started hosting events again this year, was scheduled to host an international tournament in May, but it was canceled because of poor ticket sales and visa problems for some of the teams. AC Milan finished third in Italy’s Serie A this season, nine points behind archrival Inter. Panathinaikos won the Greek league.
■SOCCER
Toni shown the door
Bayern Munich are to release out-of-favor Italian striker Luca Toni one year before the end of his contract, the German champions said yesterday. “FC Bayern Munich and striker Luca Toni will terminate their contract as of 30 June, 2010. The contract with the Italian striker was due to run until 2011,” the club said in a statement. “I want to thank Luca Toni warmly for his performances and goals, especially in the 2007-2008 season, when we won the double,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. The 33-year-old fell out of favor with coach Louis van Gaal, with Rummenigge saying last month: “He has to be realistic about his future with Bayern Munich ... It is up to him and his agent to find a solution in Italy.” This season, Toni was on loan to AS Roma, but he failed to make his mark at the club.
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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