■ATHLETICS
Tsoumeleka test found EPO
Greek athlete Athanasia Tsoumeleka, who won the Olympic 20km walk title on home ground in 2004, tested positive for EPO ahead of the Beijing Games, Net television reported on Saturday. Net reported that the 27-year-old Tsoumeleka tested positive for the banned blood booster following an Aug. 6 test just ahead of the Beijing Games. The broadcaster said that she had denied blood doping while indicating she was going to retire. Born in Preveza, northwestern Greece, Tsoumeleka, an asthma sufferer, was a surprise gold winner in 2004 and placed ninth in Beijing. Ahead of Beijing, she had expressed fears that air pollution in the Chinese capital might affect her showing.
■OLYMPICS
Melbourne wants Games
Melbourne wants to bring the Olympics back to the city that hosted the Games in 1956 and may bid for either the 2024 or 2028 event, a report said yesterday. The Melbourne Age newspaper said Rod Eddington, chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company, the body that would lead the bid, had informed the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) of the city’s interest. AOC chief John Coates confirmed that he had spoken with Eddington and said Melbourne, which hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2006, was well placed because it already had so many world-class sporting facilities. “The Melbourne Cricket Ground would have to be at the center of the bid, it would have to be,” Coates said. The timing of any bid would depend on Australia’s attempt to land the soccer World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, with a decision on those events set for December next year, the paper said.
■SOCCER
Ibisevic has knee surgery
Hoffenheim striker Vedad Ibisevic has undergone a successful operation on his injured right knee, the German league leaders said on Saturday. The Bundesliga’s top scorer with 18 goals tore his cruciate ligament in a friendly game against SV Hamburg during a training camp in Spain on Wednesday. The Bosnia striker had surgery at St Elisabeth hospital in Heidelberg and will be out for the rest of the season. Swiss forward Eren Derdiyok has meanwhile turned down an approach from Hoffenheim, who are now in the market for a replacement striker. The Basel striker has been reported as saying he would be joining fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season. Hoffenheim’s billionaire investor Dietmar Hopp told Bild newspaper on Saturday he backed a new signing but was “pessimistic of finding a replacement in such short time.” Hopp said he would give a chance to Brazilian striker Wellington, who was signed for 5 million euros (US$6.65 million) last summer but has yet to establish himself in the side.
■MARATHON
Mugara wins in Mumbai
Kenneth Mugara led a Kenyan sweep in the men’s event of the Mumbai marathon yesterday in the city’s first international sports event since the militant attacks in November. Almost 35,000 people participated in five separate events in the annual run through the streets of south and central Mumbai, taking them past two of the three landmarks where Islamic gunmen laid siege, killing 179 people. Mugara clocked a course record time of 2:11.51 ahead of David Tarus in second and John Kelai, winner of the previous two editions, third. Ethiopia’s Haile Kebebush won the women’s race in a time of 2:34.08 with compatriot Marta Marcos second and Kenya’s Irene Mogaka third.
■FOOTBALL
Rams name new coach
Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator for the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants, was named the coach of the St. Louis Rams on Saturday by the National Football League team. The 49-year-old assistant coach has agreed to a four-year deal to replace interim Rams coach Jim Haslett, who took over after Scott Linehan was fired following an 0-4 start. “We considered some very qualified and outstanding candidates for this position but we kept coming back to Steve Spagnuolo,” Rams general manager Billy Devaney said. “He represented what we were looking for.” The Rams finished 2-14, last in the NFC West division, and allowed 29.1 points a game while scoring only an average of 14.5 points a contest — both figures second-worst in the 32-team league. Spagnuolo was a defensive assistant coach for Philadelphia from 1999 through 2006 before joining the Giants, where he build a unit that led the NFL with 53 quarterback sacks. “We’re very excited that Steve will be our head coach and are looking forward to an exciting season,” Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom said.
■FOOTBALL
Morris becomes Bucs coach
Raheem Morris became the NFL’s youngest coach on Saturday when the 32-year-old Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator was promoted one day after the firing of Jon Gruden. In addition to making Morris only the seventh black head coach in NFL history, the Buccaneers made director of pro personnel Mark Dominik the team’s new general manager, replacing Bruce Allen, who was also fired on Friday. The ouster came in the wake of a late-season collapse that cost Tampa Bay a playoff spot. The Bucs began the season 9-3 but lost their final four games to tumble out of the title chase. Morris oversaw the Tampa Bay secondary until last month when he replaced Monte Kiffin in the defensive post after Kiffin departed to guide the University of Tennessee.
■BASEBALL
Phillies sign MVP Hamels
Reigning Major League Baseball champion Philadelphia has signed World Series Most Valuable Player Cole Hamels to a three-year contract extension worth US$20.5 million. The deal, first reported by the New York Post, allows the Phillies to avoid arbitration with the 25-year-old southpaw pitcher. Hamels was 14-10 last season with a 3.09 earned-run average in 33 starts and was a hero in the playoffs, going 4-0 in five starts with a 1.80 earned-run average to win World Series and National League championship series MVP honors. Hamels, 38-23 with a 3.43 ERA in 84 starts with the Phillies, settled for lesser deals than pitchers A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe obtained during the off-season but will also be able to test free agency earlier.
■BADMINTON
Danes dominate series
Denmark grabbed three titles while hosts South Korea took one from the mixed doubles at the finals of the Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament yesterday in Seoul. The Danish players swept up the singles crowns. In men’s singles, Peter Hoeg Gade upset the top-seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-18, 10-21, 21-17. Lee, the world’s No. 1 player, was coming off a win at the Malaysia Open a week ago. Gade’s compatriot Tine Rasmussen captured the women’s title over Pi Hongyan of France, 21-19, 21-19. In the men’s doubles, Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen denied the South Koreans their fourth straight Super Series title.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute