ATHLETICS
Marathon to punish cheaters
Shenzhen Half-Marathon organizers have vowed that 258 participants caught cheating during last weekend’s race would not be able to run away from punishment for their actions. As many as 18 runners found to wearing fake bibs, as well as three impostors, face lifetime bans from the event, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The 237 others, most of whom had taken shortcuts during the race and were caught out by traffic cameras and local photographers, could be banned for two years. “We deeply regret the violations that occurred during the event. Marathon running is not simply exercise, it is a metaphor for life, and every runner is responsible for him or herself,” Xinhua quoted organizers as saying. News of the cheating has caused outrage in China, prompting the People’s Daily to urge runners to “respect the marathon and respect sporting spirit” in an editorial. A sharp rise in the number of events in the past few years and mass participation has also been blamed for the problem. China has held 1,072 marathons and road races this year, up from 22 in 2011, Xinhua said, quoting figures from the Chinese Athletic Association.
BASEBALL
London games to be pricey
Major League Baseball is charging princely prices for its first games in Britain. Premium seats at London’s Olympic Stadium are to cost ￡385 (US$492) for next year’s games between the New York Yankees and World Series champions the Boston Red Sox on June 29 and June 30. The top non-premium seats near the infield are to cost ￡320 and seats in the outfield corners are to go for ￡270 and ￡220, a chart on Ticketmaster’s Web site showed. Seats behind the outfield fences are to go for ￡120, while those in the second deck range from ￡30 to ￡270. A presale for Yankees and Red Sox season ticket holders starts today and a presale for those who have preregistered begins on Monday. The general sale date is Thursday next week. Site of the 2012 Olympics, the stadium in East London was extensively remodeled for soccer club West Ham United, who starting playing there in the 2016-2017 season. West Ham charge ￡55 to ￡80 for category A Premier League matches this season, with discounts for club members and lower prices for category B and C matches.
SOCCER
Thailand detains refugee
A former Bahrain national team player who was given refugee status in Australia after fleeing political repression has been detained in Bangkok, rights groups said yesterday. Hakeem Alaraibi was arrested in 2012 and convicted two years later in absentia as part of a government crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests. Alaraibi, who said he was playing in a match during the alleged crime, was last year granted refugee status in Australia, where he has played for semi-professional club Pascoe Vale, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said. However, he was detained at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Tuesday during a personal trip, said rights groups, which feared he would be sent back to Bahrain. Human Rights Watch senior Thailand researcher Sunai Phasuk said that “under no circumstances” should Alaraibi be handed over to Bahrain. “Hakeem is a refugee accepted by Australia, so Thailand should do the right thing by sending him back to Australia on the next flight,” he said.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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