CRICKET
New IPL sponsor sought
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is seeking a new title sponsor for this Indian Premier League season after the suspension of its five-year agreement with Chinese telecommunications company Vivo. The Twenty20 league is to be played in the United Arab Emirates from next month and the title sponsorship became vacant last week. The suspension was announced in a statement by the BCCI and came when Indian troops were in a tense standoff with Chinese soldiers in eastern Ladakh in the Himalayas. The BCCI has announced it would accept bids for the title sponsorship until Tuesday next week, setting a benchmark of a minimum US$40 million turnover for companies wanting to apply. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly last week said that his board was well prepared to deal with the sponsorship issue and was keeping its options open.
ICE HOCKEY
Rangers win draft lottery
The New York Rangers won the second phase of the NHL draft lottery, giving them a shot at selecting winger Alexis Lafreniere. The Rangers were among eight teams who lost in the qualifying round of the playoffs with a chance to claim quite a consolation prize. The Rangers have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 1965, when they selected Andre Veilleux. The league was forced to make a lot of changes after the COVID-19 pandemic paused the season and the lottery was turned into a two-phase process. The league’s bottom seven teams had their seasons concluded on March 12. Those teams also ended up not winning the lottery in June. The Los Angeles Kings landed the No. 2 pick overall. The winning placeholder team, which became the Rangers, got the top pick despite a 12.5 percent chance. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that the process was fair because the eight teams who were in the expanded playoffs would have had a chance to win the lottery if the pandemic did not alter the season. The final 16 spots in the draft are tied to post-season results.
RUGBY UNION
Crusaders damage trophy
The Canterbury Crusaders are seeking “cultural advice” to repair the Super Rugby Aotearoa trophy after it was damaged during their title triumph celebrations. Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge yesterday said that the trophy had become another casualty of the 10-time Super Rugby champions, who won the domestic competition with a round to spare by beating the Otago Highlanders on Sunday. “Following the match on Sunday, the trophy has accidentally been dropped and incurred some minor damage,” Mansbridge said in a statement published by New Zealand media. “We have notified New Zealand Rugby and sought cultural advice. Repairs will be made as soon as possible. The trophy was designed to be touched and passed around.” The Tu Kotahi Aotearoa trophy features a carved wooden base representing an upturned Maori waka, or canoe, with a mere pounamu — a ceremonial weapon of Maori chieftains — mounted on top. The trophy was to represent the coming together of New Zealand’s five Super Rugby teams following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. TVNZ said that the trophy had chips and dents to its base, with the mere pounamu becoming dislodged and temporarily lost amid the celebrations before later being recovered.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite