■ENGLAND
Benjani loaned to Black Cats
Struggling Premier League side Sunderland added some much needed firepower to their out-of-form strike force on Tuesday with the loan signing of Zimbabwean international Benjani Mwaruwari from rivals Manchester City. The Black Cats got the benefit of the doubt from the Premier League over signing the 31-year-old, even though they failed to process the required paperwork before Monday’s 5pm transfer deadline. Sunderland boss Steve Bruce — whose side have been in free-fall after a winless run of 11 games — blamed technical problems for the delay. Benjani — scorer of 29 goals in 43 international appearances — is a free agent in the summer, but Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini had said he could move on if he wanted to.
■PARAGUAY
Libertad make group stage
Pablo Velazquez’s two second-half goals helped put Paraguayan club Libertad into the group stage of the Copa Libertadores with a 3-1 home win against Deportivo Tachira of Venezuela on Tuesday. Libertad advanced 3-2 on aggregate to be the first through the preliminary first round. Pedro Boada opened the scoring for Tachira following a corner in the 30th minute to leave Libertad needing three goals to progress. Rodolfo Gamarra tipped the ball past Tachira goalkeeper Manuel Sanhouse, flicked the ball over Jong Viafara’s challenge and volleyed the equalizer from a narrow angle in the 41st minute. Velazquez side-footed in following a scramble in the Tachira box with just over 20 minutes to play, and sealed Libertad’s passage in the 81st minute.
■PORTUGAL
Porto put five past Sporting
Holders Porto thrashed Sporting 5-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup on Tuesday. Porto took the lead on 18 minutes through a Rolando tap in, but Russian midfielder Marat Ismailov equalized four minutes later with a thunderous drive from outside the box. Colombian striker Radamel Falcao put Porto ahead again on 34 minutes from the edge of the area and added another in the 42nd minute with a flying header after a Ruben Micael cross. Varela scored the fourth just after halftime and Argentine Mariano Gonzalez made it five with a stunning long-distance strike in the 57th minute, before Liedson scored Sporting’s second in stoppage-time.
■ITALY
Berlusconi slams own club
AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi lambasted his own club and chief executive Adriano Galliani on Tuesday for signing Inter winger Mancini on loan. The Brazilian, who has barely played for bitter city rivals Inter in the last two seasons after a dip in form, joined Milan on Monday on the last day of the transfer window. “I really don’t understand it,” the Italian prime minister told Jerusalem’s Italian community, sources at the meeting said. “He is another creative player when we need someone who can finish off moves. He’s not played for two years. I don’t agree with getting him and I’ve told Galliani.”
■ENGLAND
Pompey cash held back
The Premier League will keep more than £2 million (US$3.2 million) Portsmouth raised from selling players during the transfer window and hand it to clubs owed money by Pompey. Portsmouth sold defender Younes Kaboul to Tottenham Hotspur and goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to Stoke City for a total of about £8 million. The southeast club is reported to be about £60 million in debt.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later