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.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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
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