PREMIER LEAGUE
Kane hurts ankle
Tottenham Hotspur face an anxious wait to discover the severity of Harry Kane’s ankle injury after he hobbled off after scoring twice in their 2-2 draw away to Everton on Friday. Kane moved clear at the top in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot award as his brace moved him to 21 for the season. However, with Tottenham’s League Cup final against Manchester City looming, the sight of him limping off in stoppage-time was a concern. Kane has had a history of ankle injuries and England manager Gareth Southgate will also be anxiously awaiting updates from the Tottenham medical team. “I don’t really know much. I don’t have much to say. I don’t want to be stupidly optimistic. At the moment I don’t know. I believe tomorrow we will have more detail,” Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho said of Kane’s injury. “For him to come out it is not because it’s nothing, it’s something. The next match is Wednesday [against Southampton], the other is Sunday [in the League Cup final], let’s see and let’s be positive.”
BUNDESLIGA
Leipzig held 0-0
RB Leipzig on Friday had a last-minute goal ruled out and were held to a 0-0 draw at home by TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to hand the Bundesliga title initiative back to Bayern Munich. Second-placed Leipzig have 61 points, but Bayern had an opportunity to stretch their lead to seven points with their game against third-placed VfL Wolfsburg to be played after press time last night. Leipzig thought they had won the game at the death when Yussuf Poulsen headed in, but he was penalized for handball after the referee consulted the pitchside monitor.
LIGUE 1
Lille, Montpellier draw
Lille OSC on Friday needed a late equalizer from Luiz Araujo to draw 1-1 at home to Montpellier HSC and guarantee that they kept top spot in a close French title race, regardless of whether defending champions Paris Saint-Germain win this weekend. With time running out against a well-drilled and counterattacking Montpellier side, a loose ball fell to the Brazilian on the left of the penalty area and Araujo curled a superb shot past goalkeeper Jonas Omlin in the 84th minute. Lille were four points ahead of PSG, who are to play AS Saint-Etienne today.
WORLD CUP
Qatar mulls WC jabs
is in talks with manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that all fans attending next year’s World Cup in the country have been vaccinated, the Qatari Minister of
Qatar is in talks with manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that all fans attending next year’s World Cup in the country have been vaccinated, the Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Friday. “We have been negotiating and talking to the vaccination providers on how we can make sure that everyone attending the World Cup is vaccinated,” he said during the Raisina Dialogue, a virtual event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation. “Right now there are programs under development to provide vaccination to all the attendees of the World Cup. We will be able, hopefully, to host a COVID-free event. We also hope that globally the pandemic will start to go down and disappear.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino has previously said that measures to contain the virus would need to be taken during the tournament, but did not given details. “Maybe some precautionary measures have to be taken,” Infantino told reporters during the FIFA Club World Cup in Doha in February.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB