Wednesday, February 11, 2015
EXTRATIME
X7
BOXING Khan
KHAN
challenges Floyd, Pacquiao, Cotto
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ritish-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan claims he is ready for all comers and challenged some of the top fighters in his division to a showdown this May. In a tweet, Khan challenged Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Timothy Bradley, and Juan Manuel Marquez. “Mayweather, Pacquiao, Cotto, Bradley, Marquez all available to fight around May,” Khan tweeted. “I’m ready and want to fight the best.” He also added the hashtag “Let’s Make It Happen.” Khan has been publicly campaigning for a fight against Mayweather for a long time now, and has also expressed
willingness to take on Pacquiao, his former sparring partner and stablemate. It is possible, however, that Khan may be left in a lurch as Mayweather and Pacquiao’s camps are currently negotiating for a May 2 super-fight. Thus, the former world champion called out other top fighters, including Cotto, who currently fights at middleweight. Khan told his Twitter followers that he would fight Cotto “in a heartbeat” in a bout that can be held at catchweight of 155-pounds. “Stylistically, Cotto would be a great fight for me,” he also said. “He’s a great champion. Just imagine that fight in the UK.”
MOTORSPORT
ALONSO threatens legal action over alleged tax
Isinbayeva
ATHLETICS
ISINBAYEVA
eyes comeback
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ole vault world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva is planning to make a comeback ahead of next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The two-time Olympic gold medalist has not competed since winning her third world championship title in Moscow in 2013, taking time out to have her first child. Her daughter was born in June 2014. On Tuesday, Moscow’s CSKA athletics club celebrated “the return of an Olympic champion,” adding that Isinbayeva would compete for the club and work as an “instructor.” However, Isinbayeva said she would focus on fitness training for the rest of 2015 before starting to vault next year, with the aim of competing at her fourth Olympics. Isinbayeva vaulted a world record 5.06m in 2009.
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ernando Alonso is threatening legal action after being named on a list of those suspected of tax evasion. The so-called ‘Falciani list’, named after a whistleblower, features thousands of names of those with Swiss accounts who reportedly used the HSBC bank to evade tax by placing money offshore. Also on the list are Michael Schumacher, Flavio Briatore and Heikki Kovalainen. According to the Spanish news agency EFE, Spaniard Alonso - accused of holding $42 million in four separate accounts - has hit back at the reports by threatening to sue over damage to his reputation. A source close to Alonso, who lives in Dubai, insisted: “Revenue authorities have never asked him anything because his situation has always been impeccable.” EFE claims Alonso confirmed in a statement that he has ordered the “filing of several lawsuits” in the wake of the media reports. Former Renault boss Flavio Briatore, who was linked managerially both to Alonso and Kovalainen, also hit back at the claims, insisting that his “accounts with HSBC had for years been reported to the authorities who never found any tax irregularities”. Reports had claimed Briatore’s nine HSBC accounts contained EUR 64 million.
Hewitt
AEGON
TOURNEY: Hewitt gets Queen’s wildcard
TENNIS
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ormer Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt has been given a wildcard entry to the Aegon Championships at Queen’s in what will be his last grasscourt season. The Australian former world number one, 33, said last month he would retire after next year’s Australian Open. The 2001 US Open champion has won Queen’s four times. “Lleyton is one of our greatest champions,” Tournament Director, Stephen Farrow, said. “It is a little unconventional to award wildcards before the entry list has been finalised, but it took us roughly two seconds to decide to guarantee Lleyton a wildcard.” Hewitt will join defending champion Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and British number one Andy Murray in the draw for the event, which takes place from June 15-21.
GOLF
T
iger Woods’s return to golf in 2015 has been an “epic failure”, according to his former coach Hank Haney. “His number one priority should be making a swing so that he doesn’t hurt himself, and I thought that’s what this whole biomechanical thing was going to be all about,” Haney said after the 14time major champion withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open. “So this obviously has been an epic failure when you look at the amount of time that he’s been working and he’s already hurt again.” As for Woods’s short-game problems, Haney explained his former charge is “totally helpless”. “He still has a great short game, but he’s yipping them,” Haney added. “And that renders you totally helpless. When he’s yipping them, then the results are going to be horrific.” Woods dropped to a career-low world number 62 on Sunday.
Woods
TIGER WOODS is ‘helpless’, says Haney