RUGBY SEVENS
Oceania teams to play
Rugby sevens powers New Zealand, Fiji and Australia are to clash in an Olympic warmup tournament in Townsville, Australia, from June 25 to 27, Oceania Rugby said yesterday. The men’s and women’s sides from each of the southern hemisphere nations are to compete in four-team tournaments along with an invitational Oceania Barbarians team. The Australian government is supporting the travel costs for Fiji’s national teams. “The impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt in all sports across the Oceania region and without this targeted support, we would not have been able to provide this much needed international competition,” Oceania Rugby president Richard Sapias said in a statement.
SOCCER
France defeat Wales
Karim Benzema on Wednesday missed a penalty and hit the post on his international return as France warmed up for the Euro 2020 with a 3-0 home win against Wales. Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele grabbed the goals. “I felt a lot of pride, I wanted to play and to show it. That’s what I did tonight,” Benzema said. “I had very good feelings out there. It’s been a difficult season with a lot of matches, but I felt good all game.” In other friendlies elsewhere, Mats Hummels and Thomas Muller made their returns for Germany, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw with Denmark, while the Netherlands scored an 89th-minute equalizer through Memphis Depay to draw 2-2 with Scotland.
SOCCER
Jeers mar knee gesture
England and Austria players on Wednesday took a knee before their Euro 2020 warmup match at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough, England, but it was met with a mixture of loud boos and applause. It was the first time an England side have made the anti-racism gesture in front of a home crowd. “I did hear it,” Southgate said of the jeers. “It’s not something on behalf of our black players that I wanted to hear, because it feels as though it’s a criticism of them. I think we have got a situation where some people think it’s a political stand that they don’t agree with. That’s not the reason we are doing it. We are supporting each other.” Bukayo Saka scored his first international goal to earn the win for England.
BASEBALL
Dodgers score 11 in first
Cody Bellinger on Wednesday had a grand slam and six RBIs as the Dodgers scored 11 times in the bottom of the first — the most runs they have scored in one inning of a regular-season game since moving to Los Angeles — during a 14-3 blowout over the St Louis Cardinals. After Paul Goldschmidt homered to put St Louis ahead 1-0, Bellinger’s two-run single gave them a 3-1 lead. Later in the inning, he hit his sixth career slam, as his drive off Jake Woodford’s fastball just cleared the wall and Justin Williams’ glove in right field. In other games, the Athletics beat the Mariners 6-0, the Cubs beat the Padres 6-1, the Mets downed the Diamondbacks 7-6, the Orioles defeated the Twins 6-3, the Yankees topped the Rays 4-3, the Nationals overcame the Braves 5-3, the Blue Jays edged the Marlins 6-5, the Astros beat the Red Sox 2-1 and the Rockies won 6-3 over the Rangers.
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