■ BASEBALL
Saito agrees to new deal
Japanese right-hander Takashi Saito agreed to a US$2 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, a day before the team's pitchers and catchers report for pre-season spring training. "I'm very relieved to clean everything up," he said through a translator. "It just feels a lot better not having to worry about my contract. I'm just very happy that the Dodgers consider me a very important part of the team." Saito was 2-1 with a 1.40 ERA and 39 saves in 43 chances with the Dodgers last season, and made the National League All-Star team. Saito signed a US minor league contract with the Dodgers two years ago after playing 14 seasons for Yokohama of the Japanese Central League.
■ GOLF
Three share NZ PGA lead
Canadian David Hearn and Americans Darron Stiles and Matt Bettencourt shot 6-under-par 66s yesterday to share the lead after the first round of the New Zealand PGA Championship. The leading trio was one shot clear of three golfers with 67s -- Americans D.A. Points, Rick Price and Dave Schultz -- in the tournament co-sanctioned by the Australasian PGA and US Nationwide tours. Kiwi Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open winner, shot 70 and was among 49 players within four shots of the lead. Hearn had six birdies and no bogeys and Stiles gave up the chance for the outright lead when he double-bogeyed the par-four 13th along with eight birdies. Bettencourt held the lead at seven-under until he double-bogeyed the par-four 17th, then birdied 18 to reclaim his share of the lead.
■ TENNIS
Moya rallies to earn victory
Top-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain bounced back from a first-set scare to rout Olivier Patience of France 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 in the Brasil Open second round on Wednesday. Moya lost his serve only once to lose the first set. Patience won his opening serve of the second then Moya reeled off the last 12 games, allowing Patience just eight points in the third set. He advanced to the quarter-finals where he will face countryman Oscar Hernandez, who defeated Sergio Roitman of Argentina 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Italian up-and-comer Fabio Fognini reached his second successive ATP quarter-finals when he upset eighth-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain 7-5, 6-3. Also, Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic defeated Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 to make his first ATP quarter-finals since July 2005.
■ TENNIS
Blake wins in straight sets
Top seeded American James Blake beat Robert Kendrick 7-5, 7-5 to reach the second round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championship on Wednesday. Play was interrupted by a six-hour rain delay and resulted in a pair of singles matches getting postponed until today. Unable to get in a groove early due to the delay, Blake fell behind in the second set but rallied to close things out in straight sets. Qualifier Amer Delic battled back to eliminate Donald Young, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Young had a 5-0 lead in the first set before unravelling. Sixth-seeded veteran Vince Spadea moved on with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over German Denis Gremelmayr. Japanese qualifier Kei Nishikori also advanced to the second round and led German Florian Mayer, 6-0, 4-3 when Mayer retired with a left leg injury.
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
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
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
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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