■AUSSIE RULES
Adelaide beer ban ends
The time-honored tradition of drinking a beer in your seat while watching a sporting event is coming to Adelaide’s main Australian Rules football stadium, ending a 35-year-old ban. Local officials helped get the prohibition overturned by citing the global economic crisis. On Sunday, for the first time since its gates opened in 1974, AAMI Stadium (formerly Football Park) will join all other Australian Football League venues in allowing spectators at the Port Adelaide versus Essendon match to drink beer in their seats. Previously, spectators had to drink beer in designated bar areas inside the stadium.
■SOCCER
Kenyans lose their kit
Sales of Kenya replica kits are set for a boost after the national team’s kit went missing days ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Tunisia. Nairobi’s Standard newspaper reported yesterday that officials would have to go out and purchase replica jerseys from the shops after three sets of kit and 2,000 soccer balls went missing from the Kenyan soccer association’s stock. Football Kenya’s technical director Patrick Naggi told the newspaper there was no time to order a new set of kit from the team’s sponsors and there was no option but to buy from the shops. Kenya host Tunisia in Nairobi tomorrow as the final phase of the African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals begins.
■CURLING
China make playoffs
Wang Bingyu edged Sweden’s Anette Norberg 8-7 yesterday to confirm China’s place in the playoffs at the women’s world championship. Wang, who leads the 12-team competition with a 9-1 win-loss record, scored three in the first end. Norberg — the two-time world and Olympic champion — made three straight ends to take a 4-3 lead. But Wang replied with a deuce in the fifth and a steal of two in the sixth for a 7-4 lead, which the Chinese never relinquished.
■SOCCER
Training session abandoned
South Africa’s national team turned up for a training session on Wednesday, only to find they had been lined up to act in a television commercial no one had told them about, the South African Press Association reported. The 2010 World Cup hosts, preparing for friendly international against Norway tomorrow, were scheduled six months ago to make an ad for their sponsors, but neither the coach nor his team had been told by officials. South Africa’s Brazil coach Joel Santana, now a 10-month veteran of the vagaries of soccer administration in Africa, had to be coaxed into agreeing to abandon his planned session and instead allow his players to be turned into temporary actors. “We will not use this situation as an excuse if we lose to Norway,” assistant coach Jairo Leal said.
■CYCLING
Valverde wins sprint finish
Alejandro Valverde of Spain won a sprint to take the third stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon cycling race, while Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead. Valverde covered the 157km mountain stage in 3 hours, 28 minutes, 16 seconds, to edge Spanish pair Ruben Plaza and Javier Moreno, who both finished with the same time. Leipheimer maintained a 16-second advantage over Astana teammate Alberto Contador with an overall time of 8 hours, 33 minutes, 26 seconds after both riders finished in the pack of riders who all received the same time as Valverde.
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
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
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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