FOOTBALL
Team sleep through alarms
Two false fire alarms that rang through the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl hotel was not enough to rattle the team as several players said on Thursday that they slept through the blaring noise. A false alarm during the night on Monday was followed by another in the early morning hours on Thursday due to a smoke detector that was isolated to one wing of the resort where the team is staying ahead of tomorrow’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and defending champions Seattle Seahawks in Glendale, Arizona. When asked whether there was an issue with the alarm, none of the Patriots players claimed to have been bothered. “If there has, I haven’t heard it. I must be sleeping through it, so that’s good,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told reporters. The latest false alarm caused a two-minute disturbance and there were no injuries or reason to evacuate, a spokeswoman for the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass said. The hotel is looking into the cause of the false alarms.
OLYMPICS
Torch relay details released
The torch relay for next year’s Rio Olympics is to visit 250 towns and be carried by 10,000 runners before it arrives for the opening ceremony at the Maracana on Aug. 5, organizers said on Thursday. The flame is to arrive in the country 100 days before the beginning of the Games, although organizers were unable to say from where the relay would start. It is to pass through the capitals of all 26 states as well as the federal capital, Brasilia, taking in 20,000km on the ground and 10,000km by air. Approximately 90 percent of the 200 million Brazilian population should be able to see the relay, organizers said.
FORMULA ONE
Mercedes drivers do test run
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg gave their 2015 Mercedes race car a “shakedown” test at Silverstone on Thursday before a snowstorm forced an end to proceedings. Mercedes said the F1 W06 hybrid car, due to be formally unveiled at the first preseason test in Jerez tomorrow, took to the track in icy conditions for a limited mileage promotional event. “Driven first by Nico Rosberg, then Lewis Hamilton, the car completed a total of 18 laps (47.2 km) before a blizzard brought filming to a halt,” the team said in a statement. Mercedes won both championships last year, with Hamilton taking 11 victories to Rosberg’s five.
SOCCER
Stadium may snub matches
Rio de Janeiro’s famed Maracana stadium, which staged the World Cup finals in 1950 and last year — and is to host the opening and closing ceremonies of next year’s Olympics — might shut its doors to “little” matches. The management of the 78,000-capacity ground believe it makes economic sense to concentrate only on arena-filling teams and events. However, the consortium said on Thursday that no firm decision has yet been taken. “In a stadium of international renown and which can host 78,000 people, small matches have little pulling power for the public as is the case with games played in the carioca [Rio state championship],” the Consortium Maracana said in a statement. They argue that it costs as much to open the Maracana for 2,800 spectators — the average crowd for local football games — as it does for 30,000. The Maracana is also a major venue for concerts — on Sunday last week, US rockers the Foo Fighters brought in US$377,000, the O Globo newspaper reported. The legendary Rio stadium was renovated for last year’s World Cup at a cost of US$500 million.
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
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two
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