■Rugby
Aussies name captain
Veteran rugby union test lock Matt Cockbain was named yesterday to captain Australia A on its two-match tour of Japan next month. Cockbain, not among the Australian squad for the opening three tests of the year in Australia next month, is one of seven players with Wallaby experience in the 24-man "A" squad. He is also one of 12 Queenslanders in the touring party, including 20-year-old halfback Josh Valentine, who has been made vice-captain. Other former Wallabies in the team are props Nick Stiles and Fletcher Dyson, breakaway David Croft, hooker Adam Freier, lock Justin Harrison and winger Mark Bartholomeusz. The team will play a President's XV on June 5 and the Japanese national team on June 8.
■ Baseball
Kim Byung-hyun to play
Kim Byung-hyun will come off the disabled list to start for the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday in San Francisco. Kim (1-5), converted from a closer to a starter this season, has been sidelined since April 30 with a bruised right ankle. He made three rehabilitation starts for Triple-A Tucson, and strained a hamstring in his last outing Wednesday. The Diamondbacks had thought the hamstring problem would delay Kim's return for seven to 10 days, but the soreness went away sooner than expected. "He came the day after the hamstring injury and went through a lot of conditioning drills and some running drills and looked a lot better than we had anticipated," manager Bob Brenly said. "So what was initially a great area of concern went away." Kim will start in place of Miguel Batista, who is serving a 10-game suspension for his role in a brawl with the St. Louis Cardinals on April 20.
■ Soccer
Romanians get no pay
Players of relegated Romanian side Sportul Studentesc Bucharest who are owed more than a year's wages have asked the Professional Soccer League (LPF) for their freedom of contract, a LPF official said yesterday. "Almost the whole team, or 18 players, have yet to receive a total of more than US$200,000 for the 2001-2002 season," LPF General Secretary Valentin Alexandru said. He said the LPF would soon decide on the matter. Romanian soccer has suffered from a chronic lack of funds in the last few years and dozens of first and second division players staged an unprecedented demonstration over unpaid wages in the streets of Bucharest in December. Sportul Studentesc, 15th in the first division, lost 4-3 away to Steaua Bucharest on Saturday and were relegated along with bottom team UT Arad before Wednesday's final round of matches.
Agencies
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but