■ 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.
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
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
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. Barca 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 Barca a 2-0 win over
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