BASEBALL
Lenny Randle dies aged 75
Former infielder Lenny Randle, who played 12 major league seasons, died on Sunday. He was 75. Randle died at his home in Murrieta, California, according to reports. He was once dubbed “The Most Interesting Man in Baseball” by Rolling Stone magazine, but his career was overshadowed by a punch he threw at Texas Rangers manager Frank Lucchesi on March 28, 1977. The switch-hitting Randle lost his second base job to Bump Wills during spring training and immediately requested a trade. Lucchesi told reporters he was tired of complaining from “US$80,000-a-year-punks.” Soon thereafter, Randle confronted Lucchesi near the third-base line before a game and punched him in the face three times, breaking the manager’s cheekbone in three places. He was also the center of a 1974 benches-clearing brawl against the then-Cleveland Indians.
Photo: AP
ATHLETICS
Chebet smashes 5k record
Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet on Tuesday smashed the women’s 5km world record with a time of 13 minutes, 54 seconds at the Cursa dels Nassos road race in Barcelona, Spain, to finish her blockbuster year on a high. The Kenyan beat her previous record — set a year ago to the day at the Barcelona race — by 19 seconds, becoming the first woman to break the 14-minute barrier in the event. The 24-year-old enjoyed a nearly flawless year, breaking the 10,000m world record in Eugene, Oregon, in May before claiming her second Diamond League title in the 5,000m in September.
SOCCER
Barcelona fights for Olmo
Barcelona on Tuesday applied for new players’ licences for Dani Olmo and Pau Victor with the Royal Spanish Football Association, while the club denied claims of requesting any delay from governing bodies for their registrations. The announcement was made hours before the midnight registration deadline. Barcelona lost a second appeal to register the players for the remainder of the season on Monday, with the club unable to meet La Liga’s wage cap. Barcelona signed Olmo in August last year for about 55 million euros (US$57.23 million), but the attacking midfielder was registered for only the first half of the season. Efforts to extend Olmo’s and Victor’s registrations have hit repeated road blocks, with Barcelona’s appeals dismissed by La Liga and judicial authorities.
ICE HOCKEY
US top Canada in Juniors
Danny Nelson on Tuesday night scored the game-winner in the third period and Trey Augustine made 38 saves, leading the US to a 4-1 win over Canada to take top spot in Group A at the World Junior Championship. Canada finished third in the pool and would today face the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals, while the US face Switzerland. “We’re not here to beat Canada tonight,” Augustine said. “We’re here to win a gold medal.” Canada and the US played in the same building exactly 16 years to the day at the 2009 event, when John Tavares scored a memorable hat-trick in Canada’s 7-4 comeback victory on New Year’s Eve. The Canadians went on to win a fifth straight gold. “That’s something that’s storybook-like,” the US’ Cole Eiserman said of beating Canada on home soil in the tournament’s marquee round-robin matchup. “Something that you’ve dreamt of.”
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
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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