WORLD CUP
Japan win threatens toilets
Japan fans following their team’s 2-1 win over Colombia on Tuesday risked triggering a plumbing disaster when millions rushed to the toilet at halftime. After the nail-biting first 45 minutes, water use jumped 24 percent in Tokyo, the city’s Bureau of Waterworks said yesterday. “We presume it’s because a lot of people holding off on a trip to the bathroom all went at once,” an official said. “Water use can fluctuate, especially during soccer matches, which only have one break in the middle,” she added. “It also can be affected by a period of time, excitement and other factors.” Jubilant fans made another dash for the loo at the final whistle, causing another spike of 50 percent in water use. However, the bureau had anticipated the stampede and adjusted the city’s supply and pressure accordingly, the official said. The viewing rate for the fixture hit a yearly high of 48.7 percent in Japan, surpassing the 33.9 percent marked when figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu won Olympic gold in February.
WORLD CUP
Egypt to protest referee
Egypt is to formally protest to FIFA about the performance of Paraguay referee Enrique Caceres, whose decisions they feel influenced their 3-1 defeat to Russia on Tuesday. “We want an investigation into the performance of the whole refereeing team,” Egyptian Football Association president Hany Abo Rida said yesterday. Egypt felt that fullback Ahmed Fathi was pushed in the process of attempting to clear the ball two minutes into the second half and as a result steered it into his own net, Abo Rida said. He also felt there was a legitimate penalty appeal in the 78th minute for striker Marwan Mohsen, who was bundled over by Russia defender Ilya Kutepov. “The referee should have used VAR [video assistant referee] to check and award the penalty,” he said.
WORLD CUP
Games streaming in metro
Some Muscovites have found their daily commute on one of the busiest underground systems in the world flying past after city authorities began screening games in metro carriages. “It’s great! If our team was playing right now, I’d be shouting and disturbing other people, but now I am watching it calmly,” said Valery Arakelov, a Moscow resident engrossed in Australia’s encounter with Denmark on Thursday. “Some people appear to have been watching entire games while riding on the circle line,” Moscow Metro first deputy head Roman Latypov said. “We see that some of the passengers enter the metro when a match starts and they go around until the match ends, so the circle line now is extremely popular with some of the fans.”
SURFING
Israelis try to break record
Hundreds of Israeli surfers in skull-and-crossbones shirts yesterday took to the waves in what they said was a record-breaking protest against potential environmental damage from offshore gas development. Organizers said that 992 people paddled out and held hands to form a circle opposite Herzliya to demand that a planned gas rig be relocated further from the Mediterranean coast. The event is to be submitted to Guinness World Records for recognition, organizers said. Guinness lists a 511-person circle of surfers in California last year as the world-record “surfing paddle-out.”
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
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