GOLF
Play abandoned in Madeira
The first round of the Madeira Islands Open was abandoned without a ball being hit on Thursday after heavy fog enveloped the Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra. The 1,500th tournament in European Tour history was set to see two rounds of action yesterday at a venue which stands at 700m above sea level. “We abandoned play because five of the holes have been unplayable all day due to the fog,” tournament director Jose Maria Zamora said. “Basically, 13 of the holes have been playable for much of the day, but five of the holes higher up the mountain — one, nine, 10, 11 and 18 — have had no visibility all day.”
TENNIS
Federer to play French Open
Roger Federer will take part in the French Open, despite earlier suggesting he may take time out to be with wife Mirka, who gave birth to the couple’s second set of twins this week. Federer’s agent, Tony Godsick told the ATP Tour Web site that the Swiss star intends to feature at the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros in Paris on May 25, where he would stretch his consecutive run of Grand Slam events to 58. “Roger plans on playing Roland Garros and he will make a decision at the last minute if he will play Rome [next week] depending on how everything is going with his family,” Godsick said. Mirka Federer gave birth to two sons, Leo and Lenny, on Tuesday. The couple already have twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Ri, who will be five in July. Federer, 32, has played in a record 57 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, this past January eclipsing the mark previously set by Wayne Ferreira in 2003. He will be making his 16th straight appearance at the French Open, where he won the title in 2009 to complete a career Grand Slam
BASKETBALL
Snake unnerves Trail Blazer
The Portland Trail Blazers had a snake in their locker room on Thursday. Not a backstabbing, treacherous teammate — a real live snake. The reptile, believed to be a baby rattlesnake, was found coiled up in reserve forward Thomas Robinson’s locker ahead of their playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs. Robinson, who stands 2.08m and weighs 107.5kg, was unnerved by the find. “I screamed,” he said. “I saw something curled up. I screamed. I jumped. I yelled.” Security personnel removed the snake from the locker. Robinson scored only two points on Thursday as the Trail Blazers were beaten 114-97 to fall 2-0 behind in their best-of-seven Western Conference semi-finals series.
ANTI-DOPING
Former cop to head agency
Australia has appointed a former federal police officer to head its anti-doping agency amid ongoing investigations into the links between organized crime and drugs in sports. Sports Minister Peter Dutton yesterday announced the appointment of Ben McDevitt, who has held high-ranking positions in the federal police and the Australian Crime Commission over a 28-year career in law enforcement, as chief executive of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority. The authority is still considering whether individual Australian rules or rugby league players should be charged after a 13-month investigation into the use of banned substances in the top national leagues. An investigation into supplements programs in the leagues has already resulted in a AS$2 million (US$1.87 million) fine for Australian Football League club Essendon and a AS$1 million fine for National Rugby League club Cronulla.
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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