■ Rugby Union
Sivivatu in for Hamilton
Winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has been added to the New Zealand All Blacks squad for Saturday's decisive Tri-Nations rugby test against Australia at Auckland. Sivivatu, who has been sidelined with injury, replaces Scott Hamilton in the only change to New Zealand's 30-man squad since its 13-9 win over Australia last month.
■ Athletics
Five Swedes detained
Five Swedish athletes, among them former high jump world record holder Patrik Sjoberg, were detained by police in Goteborg on Sunday on suspicion of narcotics. They were released after being interrogated and tested, Swedish news agency TT said. Police released three of the athletes' names. In addition to Sjoberg, they were former 400m hurdler Sven Nylander and Patrik Lovgren. No other details were available. Lovgren was a reserve on the Swedish 4x100 relay team at the European Championships that ended on Sunday.
■ Soccer
Seitaridis out injured
Defender Giourkas Seitaridis has been ruled out of Greece's friendly against England due to injury. Atletico Madrid said on Sunday that Seitaridis will be sidelined for two weeks after straining his left ankle during Saturday's 1-0 loss to AC Milan in a preseason tournament. Greece meets England on Wednesday at Old Trafford in Manchester, England. Seitaridis, who joined Atletico from Dynamo Moscow in May, is also doubtful for the start of the Spanish league season, which begins on Aug. 26.
■ Soccer
Ajax win Johan Cruyff Trophy
Ajax won the Johan Cruyff Trophy on Sunday, beating PSV Eindhoven 3-1 in the match that pits the Dutch league champion against the cup winner. Mauro Rosales, Kenneth Perez and Wesley Sneijder scored a goal each for Ajax, while PSV captain Philip Cocu scored for PSV. Rosales put Ajax ahead in the seventh minute, finishing a cross from Gabri de la Torre, who joined the team from FC Barcelona in the offseason. Cocu equalized for the defending league champions on a corner shortly after halftime. Perez later gave Ajax the lead in the 70th, following up a deflected shot by Jaap Stam, and Sneijder added insurance with a long-range blast 10 minutes later. The Dutch league's regular season kicks off on Friday.
■ Soccer
Corinthians coach quits
Geninho quit as Corinthians coach after the team's eighth loss in 10 Brazilian league matches. Geninho announced his decision on Saturday night after Corinthians' 3-1 loss to Figueirense at Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo. "I tried everything," Geninho said. "But unfortunately we couldn't get the results we needed." The defending champion has lost 11 of its 16 matches and is last in the 20-team standings with only 13 points. It has the most losses among all clubs. The team's only victory in the past 10 matches came on Aug. 5 against Atletico Paranaense.
■ Cricket
Bangladesh win series
An unbeaten 51-run stand between Mashrafe Mortaza and Abdur Razzak led Bangladesh to a two-wicket victory over Kenya and a historic series win in the second one-day cricket international in Nairobi on Sunday. Bangladesh wrapped up its first series win away from home, having also won the first one-dayer by six wickets.
■ Cricket
Monsoon halts one-dayer
Monsoon showers delayed the start of the limited-overs cricket tri-series opener between Sri Lanka and South Africa yesterday. Organizers worked hard to make the field fit for play after heavy morning rain left puddles of water on the outfield, even recruiting extra help in a bid to avoid having the match rescheduled to a reserve day. Umpires Billy Bowden and Asoka de Silva agreed to review the ground conditions at 4pm local time and then decide whether or not there will be any play.
■ Boxing
Thai olympian dies
Thailand's first-ever Olympic medalist, boxer Payao Poontarat, has died after a five-year battle with Lou Gehrig's disease, a hospital official said yesterday. He was 49. Payao garnered the kingdom's first Olympic medal, a bronze, at the age of 19, at Montreal in 1976. He later held the World Boxing Council's super flyweight crown. A native of Prachuab Kiri Khan Province, 300km south of Bangkok, Payao, a one-time flower seller, was celebrated as a national hero after his 1976 win. In 2001, he won a seat in parliament. About a year later, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He died on Sunday afternoon at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital.
■ Tennis
Zheng takes Nordic Open
Third-seeded Zheng Jie beat Anastasia Myskina 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in the Nordic Light Open final that started outdoors and finished indoors. Tied 1-1 in the opening set at Olympic Stadium, the final was suspended because of rain for more than three hours and finally moved indoors to the nearby Royal Tennis Hall. For Zheng, it was her third career singles title. She won her first at Hobart, Australia, last year and another one at Estoril, Portugal, this year.
■ Basketball
Dickel in NZ squad
Point guard Mark Dickel was named to New Zealand's 12-man squad for the world basketball championships in Japan after completing a two-match ban for cannabis use. Dickel, a former University of Nevada player, missed New Zealand's warmup matches against Qatar on Friday and Sunday after testing positive for cannabis during an earlier, pre-championship series against Australia. Basketball New Zealand yesterday ruled that Dickel's two-match ban was sufficient punishment for his breach of drug regulations and team disciplinary protocols, clearing the way for coach Tab Baldwin to include him in his world championship squad.
■ Athletics
Radcliffe pans appointment
Marathon runner Paula Radcliffe criticized a decision to appoint former Olympic sprint champion Linford Christie as a "mentor" to future British track athletes. Christie, the 100m gold medalist at the 1992 Barcelona Games, tested positive for nandrolone seven years later when he was a coach. He served a two-year ban and Radcliffe believes that does not make him the ideal person for athletes to look up to during the buildup to the 2012 London Olympics. Last week, UK Athletics announced that Christie and two-time decathlon champion Daley Thompson will be joined by Olympic medalists Steve Backley and Katharine Merry in a ?50 million (US$95.3 million) performance initiative to boost the strength of British athletics. "We have to make sure that the people in that mentor role have an integrity and strong sense of ethics and morals," Radcliffe told BBC Radio.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
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