BOXING
Williams’ title win panned
Rugby World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams won the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association’s heavyweight title, but his fight against an overweight US opponent who showed little skill or interest in fighting has been disparaged at home. Williams, 26, won the belt with a first round technical knockout over Clarence Tillman in Hamilton, New Zealand, on Wednesday. The fight lasted less than three minutes, with the grossly overweight Tillman showing little enthusiasm for the fight or any technical skill when Williams managed to land his shots, forcing referee Lance Revill to stop the bout. Boxing commentator and historian Bob Jones disparaged the fight, calling Tillman a “joke opponent” and the bout itself a farce.
TENNIS
Sanchez Vicario lashes out
Former Spanish tennis ace Arantxa Sanchez Vicario blames her parents for losing the roughly 45 million euros (US$60 million) she earned throughout her career, in a new book published this week. The 40-year-old, who retired in 2002 after winning four Grand Slam titles and once holding the No. 1 ranking, said she no longer speaks to her parents, whom she accuses of mismanaging the money she earned through endorsements and tournament wins. “They left me with nothing,” she wrote in the book of memoirs called Let’s Go! Memories of a fight, a life and a woman, which hit bookstores in Spain on Tuesday.
BASKETBALL
Magic, Bird hit Broadway
Showtime is about to have a whole new meaning for Magic Johnson. The story of the NBA Hall of Famer’s rivalry and friendship with Larry Bird is coming to Broadway in Magic/Bird, set to open in April. The two consulted in its production, and Johnson cannot wait to watch their story told. His “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s were a Hollywood hit, and now he is ready to see his name in Broadway’s lights. Johnson said: “I guess it’s the real Showtime.” It is the second in a planned series of sports-themed plays from producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser, the team behind Lombardi. Kirmser says they wanted to tell the story of Johnson and Bird, who started as rivals in college and ended as Olympic teammates and friends.
SKIING
Maria Hoefl-Riesch injured
Double Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch said she was battling with a “very painful” rib injury ahead of this weekend’s giant slalom and slalom World Cup races in Andorra’s Soldeu--Grandvalira. Last season’s overall World Cup winner took a tumble in training on Tuesday, leaving her with bruising on the left side of her ribcage and an injury to her left shoulder, but no broken bones. “Skiing is currently only possible with painkillers and I hope that I won’t be too impaired, especially in the slalom,” she said.
MOTOR RACING
Plunging driver a hit
An Australian driver flew off a road at 130kph and landed in a riverbed, but was not injured during the Tasmanian state rally. The incident involving 24-year-old George Miedecke, who has driven in some NASCAR developmental series races in the US, occurred on Jan. 28, but has become popular on Internet video sites since a film clip was released this week. Miedecke was driving his father Andrew’s 1970 Ford Capri Perana as it rounded a corner in the Targa Rally and crashed into the Huon River south
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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