Spanish court sentences ex-soccer boss Rubiales to pay fine over kiss without consent

MILAN: Inter Milan’s chances of a treble remain alive, as do AC Milan’s hopes of sneaking into Europe after the city rivals drew 1-1 in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Wednesday.
Hakan Çalhanoğlu thumped in the equalizer against his former club in the 67th minute after Milan forward Tammy Abraham had netted the opener less than two minutes into the second half.
Bologna beat Empoli 3-0 on Tuesday in the other semifinal. The return legs are scheduled for April 23-24.
Inter is on the hunt to repeat a treble haul of trophies it achieved in 2010 under Jose Mourinho. It has a three-point advantage over second-placed Napoli in Serie A — where it is the defending champion — and visits Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal.
Milan has struggled of late and just two wins in its past six league matches has seen it slip to ninth in Serie A. Winning the Italian Cup guarantees a Europa League spot.
However, the Rossoneri took the lead right at the start of the second half. Inter midfielder Davide Frattesi tried to challenge Youssouf Fofana on the edge of the area but the ball came through to Abraham, who lived up to his reputation as a big game goalscorer with an angled strike into the bottom left corner.
But Çalhanoğlu levelled 20 minutes later with a powerful 20-yard effort that squirmed under Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

PARIS: Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo said on Wednesday he could have become a delinquent if the sport of athletics had not given him a focus.

Tebogo, who stunned the field in Paris last year to become Botswana’s first Olympic gold medalist in any sport, said he would take the lessons he learned from his childhood into his new role as a global ambassador for the Kids Athletics scheme.

“Sport has really helped me a lot because I think without sport ... probably I would be a criminal by now,” 21-year-old Tebogo told reporters on a video conference call.

“In the neighborhood where I grew up there were a lot of criminals, it was the only way to survive.

“But then with sport I knew I had to go to school and with training you are tired. You don’t have time to roam the streets and go into people’s houses,” he added.

“So once I discovered that I tried to pull in a few friends of mine ... and now they are playing football.

“We always talk about if this didn’t work out, where would we be?“

The Kids Athletics program, overseen by World Athletics and targeted at children aged four to 14, is focused on maximizing participation and enjoyment through modified games and competitions based on track and field events.

Tebogo, who after the call took part in a relay event with around 1,000 children on the same grounds in Botswana where he used to train as a boy, recalled that he initially preferred football.

“I was more of a footballer, a left-winger. The teachers at my primary school forced me into athletics,” he said.

“(Athletics) wasn’t that popular in Botswana back then, until the Commonwealth Games 2018.

“From my side I just wanted to see where it would take me. Athletics was just a part-time thing for me.”

His switch of sports paid off handsomely at the Olympics when he crossed the line at the Stade de France in an African record of 19.46sec, leaving Kenny Bednarek of the US second and 100m champion Noah Lyles in the bronze-medal position.

Tebogo called Lyles “arrogant” after that race and suggested the cameras would always prefer the brash American.

He clarified those remarks on Wednesday, saying: “When you get onto the track, it’s all about business.”

“When we finish, you can be friends, life goes on. “But the ‘arrogance’ (of Lyles)... he is good to sell our sport. But with me, I’ll always shy away from doing that because that’s me.”

Tebogo came second in a rare outing at 400m in Melbourne last weekend and will run a 200m race at a meeting in Botswana next week as he sharpens his speed before heading to the Diamond League meetings in Xiamen and Shanghai on April 26 and May 3 respectively.