■ BASEBALL
Brewers hire Randolph
Former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph has been hired as a bench coach by the Milwaukee Brewers, the team said on Saturday. Randolph, fired as the Mets manager in June, had been one of three final candidates for the Brewers managerial job that eventually went to Ken Macha. The 54-year-old Randolph played for the Brewers in 1991. After an 18-year Major League career, he served as a New York Yankees base and bench coach for 11 seasons before becoming the Mets manager in 2005.
■HOCKEY
Czechs rally to beat Sweden
The Czech Republic rallied with four goals in the final period to beat Sweden 4-1 on Saturday in the four-nation Karjala Tournament, while defending champion Russia beat Finland 6-2. Forward Alexei Mikhnov scored twice for Russia, with Alexander Radulov, Denis Kulyash, Sergei Zinoviev and Alexei Tereschenko also finding the net. In the other game, Martin Thornberg gave Sweden the lead 15:58 into the second period before the Czechs rallied with four goals in the third. Miroslav Horava and Zbynek Irgl gave the Czechs a 2-1 lead before Vaclav Nedorost made it 3-1 on a power play with five minutes left, and Petr Cajanek put the game away just a minute later. Going into yesterday’s last round, Russia leads on six points, followed by the Czech Republic on four. Finland is third with two points, while Sweden has zero.
■BOXING
‘King Arthur’ still reigns
Arthur Abraham defeated Raul Marquez by technical knockout after six rounds on Saturday to defend his IBF middleweight boxing title for the eighth time and remain undefeated. Abraham landed two rights to Marquez’s right eye in the sixth round and the challenger’s camp called off the fight just before the seventh was due to start. “King Arthur” improved his record to 28-0 with 22 knockouts while Marquez dropped to 41-4-1 with 29 knockouts.
■CYCLING
Boonen fine after accident
Former world champion Tom Boonen on Saturday escaped uninjured after being involved in a car accident en route to the Brussels airport. A Flamish TV station reported that the accident occurred when the 2005 world champion had to evade an oncoming car and ended up crashing into a tree. VTM station reported police as saying that Boonen was uninjured but that the car had been damaged. Boonen, who was banned from participating in this year’s Tour de France after testing positive for cocaine in an out of competition test, has previously been in trouble with police over traffic infringements. He was without fault on Saturday though, VTM said.
■SKATING
Kato sets 500m track record
Joji Kato of Japan set a track record to win Saturday’s 500m race at the season-opening speedskating World Cup meet. Kato timed 34.70 seconds to edge China’s Yu Fengtong, at 35.07. Finland’s Mika Poutala clocked 35.13 for third, while world record-holder Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada crashed and injured his shoulder. The Netherlands swept the first four places in the men’s 1,500m race, with Sven Kramer winning in 1 minute, 45.69 seconds. Erben Wennemars was second in 1:45.85, followed by Simon Kuipers (1:45.95) and Mark Tuitert (1:46.04). Wang Beixing of China won the women’s 500 ahead of world record-holder Jenny Wolf of Germany. Wang, who was beaten by Wolf in Friday’s 500 race, clocked 37.91 to beat Wolf by 0.03 seconds.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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