BASEBALL
Lenny Randle dies aged 75
Former infielder Lenny Randle, who played 12 major league seasons, died on Sunday. He was 75. Randle died at his home in Murrieta, California, according to reports. He was once dubbed “The Most Interesting Man in Baseball” by Rolling Stone magazine, but his career was overshadowed by a punch he threw at Texas Rangers manager Frank Lucchesi on March 28, 1977. The switch-hitting Randle lost his second base job to Bump Wills during spring training and immediately requested a trade. Lucchesi told reporters he was tired of complaining from “US$80,000-a-year-punks.” Soon thereafter, Randle confronted Lucchesi near the third-base line before a game and punched him in the face three times, breaking the manager’s cheekbone in three places. He was also the center of a 1974 benches-clearing brawl against the then-Cleveland Indians.
Photo: AP
ATHLETICS
Chebet smashes 5k record
Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet on Tuesday smashed the women’s 5km world record with a time of 13 minutes, 54 seconds at the Cursa dels Nassos road race in Barcelona, Spain, to finish her blockbuster year on a high. The Kenyan beat her previous record — set a year ago to the day at the Barcelona race — by 19 seconds, becoming the first woman to break the 14-minute barrier in the event. The 24-year-old enjoyed a nearly flawless year, breaking the 10,000m world record in Eugene, Oregon, in May before claiming her second Diamond League title in the 5,000m in September.
SOCCER
Barcelona fights for Olmo
Barcelona on Tuesday applied for new players’ licences for Dani Olmo and Pau Victor with the Royal Spanish Football Association, while the club denied claims of requesting any delay from governing bodies for their registrations. The announcement was made hours before the midnight registration deadline. Barcelona lost a second appeal to register the players for the remainder of the season on Monday, with the club unable to meet La Liga’s wage cap. Barcelona signed Olmo in August last year for about 55 million euros (US$57.23 million), but the attacking midfielder was registered for only the first half of the season. Efforts to extend Olmo’s and Victor’s registrations have hit repeated road blocks, with Barcelona’s appeals dismissed by La Liga and judicial authorities.
ICE HOCKEY
US top Canada in Juniors
Danny Nelson on Tuesday night scored the game-winner in the third period and Trey Augustine made 38 saves, leading the US to a 4-1 win over Canada to take top spot in Group A at the World Junior Championship. Canada finished third in the pool and would today face the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals, while the US face Switzerland. “We’re not here to beat Canada tonight,” Augustine said. “We’re here to win a gold medal.” Canada and the US played in the same building exactly 16 years to the day at the 2009 event, when John Tavares scored a memorable hat-trick in Canada’s 7-4 comeback victory on New Year’s Eve. The Canadians went on to win a fifth straight gold. “That’s something that’s storybook-like,” the US’ Cole Eiserman said of beating Canada on home soil in the tournament’s marquee round-robin matchup. “Something that you’ve dreamt of.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barça secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barça a 2-0 win over
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