FOOTBALL
Panthers sign Shockey
The Carolina Panthers signed four-time Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey in a bid to give their sputtering offense a boost, the NFL team said on Thursday. Shockey, who was released by the New Orleans Saints last week, joins a Panthers squad that finished last in the 2010 season and an offense that had an NFL-worst 196 points. “We are very pleased to add Jeremy to our football team,” Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said in a report posted on the team’s Web site. “He is a highly competitive player with a good skill set and a wealth of experience. He should make a solid contribution to our offense.”
SOCCER
No men in women’s team
FIFA on Thursday confirmed that there were no men in the Equatorial Guinea women’s team that qualified for June’s World Cup in Germany, despite allegations from rival countries. “There are no men in the Equatorial Guinea women’s team,” said Jurg Nepfer, who is responsible for education and technical development at FIFA. “There’s no proof. It doesn’t exist. We can’t comment, there are no comments to make.” Nepfer was speaking during a tour of countries that have qualified for this summer’s women’s World Cup. Equatorial Guinea were accused of having two male players in their women’s team during November’s Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. The country’s soccer federation, Feguifoot, flatly rejected the accusations. At the time, Feguifoot media officer David Monsuy said: “They are saying that Genoveva Ayong Man and Salimata Simpaore are men. It was the press in Nigeria who started it, with Cameroon following afterwards.”
HOCKEY
Tough guy had brain disease
Bob Probert, who made his living for 16 seasons by pounding on other hockey tough guys, suffered from a degenerative brain disease when he died last year, a new report revealed on Thursday. The hard-drinking former NHL enforcer officially died of heart failure at age 45. However, Probert was battling other demons at the time of his death and that’s why he asked that his brain be analyzed once he died. Boston University researchers said on Thursday that analysis of Probert’s donated brain revealed that he had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Probert, who played nine seasons with Detroit and seven with Chicago, is the second hockey player from the program at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy to be diagnosed with the disease following his death. Reggie Fleming, a 20-year veteran who carved out a career in the 1960s, also suffered from CTE.
SOCCER
Pique tight-lipped on Shakira
Spanish World Cup star Gerard Pique on Thursday told reporters that he would prefer to talk about soccer than discuss his burgeoning romance with singing superstar Shakira. The 24-year-old Barcelona center-back has become the focus of intense media attention in Spain this week after pictures of him hand in hand with the 34-year-old Colombian singer were published in gossip magazines. “I’d like it if people only talked about me from a sporting perspective but I get the impression that, ultimately, it’s inevitable,” said Pique during a press conference at Barca’s training center. “I think that the other aspect sells more.” He added: “I accept that people can criticize me for sporting reasons but what I don’t like is when they use an easy excuse and say that my performances are affected by my private life. If we’re here it’s to talk about football.”
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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