Wed, Dec 18, 2024 page6

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
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  SOCCER

  Ronaldo to run for CBF

  Former Brazil striker Ronaldo is to run for the presidency of the country’s soccer confederation, the 48-year-old said on Monday. Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, would run as a candidate in the Confederation of Brazilian Football (CBF) elections to replace current president Ednaldo Rodrigues in 2026. He told Globo Esporte he wanted to recover the “prestige and respect that the Selecao [Brazil’s national team] always had and today nobody else has.” He also said he expects to sell his stake in Spanish top-flight side Real Valladolid so it would not be an obstacle to his candidacy.

  CYCLING

  MotoGP rider joins Lidl-Trek

  Former MotoGP rider Aleix Espargaro is to join cycling outfit Lidl-Trek next year having only retired from motorcycling last month, the team announced on Monday. Spaniard Espargaro clinched three MotoGP race wins during a 15-year career on the motorbike. The 35-year-old begins his Lidl-Trek contract on Jan. 1 and would join the side as an ambassador for unspecified “prestigious” cycling races. “After a back injury forced me to give up running I turned to cycling for recovery and training. Over time, it became more than just preparation — it became my passion,” Espargaro said. His new teammates include former Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, Belgian veteran Tim Declercq and 2019 road race world champion Mads Pedersen.

  SOCCER

  Women’s Euro purse doubled

  Prize money for the UEFA Women’s European Championship would more than double compared with the previous edition, with the 16 teams sharing 41 million euros (US$42.98 million), UEFA said on Monday. Each federation would get a minimum of 1.8 million euros for playing at Euro 2025 in Switzerland and is obliged to share at least 30 percent of the money among the players, UEFA’s executive committee decided on Monday. The men’s Euro tournament last year had a total prize fund of 331 million euros, from overall revenue of about 2.4 billion euros.

  GOLF

  PGA to pay Ryder players

  US golfers would be paid to play in the Ryder Cup for the first time after the PGA of America on Monday unveiled a program that would give each team member a US$200,000 stipend and US$300,000 to distribute to charity. The PGA of America said no players had asked to be compensated, but the issue of pay for play in the prestigious event has reportedly been a source of tension within the US team in previous editions.

  MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

  Covington decries bout call

  Colby Covington on Monday decried that his UFC bout against Joaquin Buckley on Saturday in Tampa, Florida, was stopped in the third round due to excessive bleeding from a cut above his right eye. However, UFC legend Chael Sonnen, who was in Covington’s corner during the fight, said on his YouTube channel that Covington was “busted open so bad that the doctor has to look at it three times.” Covington (17-5 MMA) had a different perspective after his first bout in a year. “I was just getting warmed up in that fight,” he said on his YouTube channel. “I think it was tied up 1-1 [in rounds], and I was starting to wear on him.”
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