■Cricket
Waugh eager to play on
Australian test captain Steve Waugh has said he wants to play in next month's series against Bangladesh, effectively ending speculation he might retire. "I'm preparing as if I'm going to keep playing," Waugh said. Waugh, 38, had considered hanging up his bat after leading Australia to success over England in the last Ashes series but opted to play on. He led Australia to victory in West Indies and dispelled any concerns about his form with a series average of 75. "I haven't made a final decision but it's all very positive. I'm pretty keen," he said.
■ Baseball
Matsui dropped to seventh
Slumping Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui was dropped to seventh in the batting order on Thursday, the lowest he's hit since arriving in New York. Known as "Godzilla" in Japan for his prodigious homers, Matsui has had trouble producing even a modest single lately. He was in a 2-for-22 slump when manager Joe Torre decided to move him down for the final game of a series against the Cincinnati Reds. He had not hit lower than fifth this season. He misplayed a single to center field for an error in the first inning, but hit a two-run homer in the third -- his first since May 7.
■ Cycling
Van Bon wins German stage
Dutchman Leon van Bon resisted a chasing pack to claim Thursday's third stage of the Tour of Germany cycle race. Van Bon, Frenchman Christophe Agnolutto and another Dutch rider, Remco Van der Ven, escaped 55km into the day's relatively undemanding 191.7km ride from Coburg to Ansbach. The trio built a lead of up to six minutes on the main bunch and reached the finish narrowly ahead of the pack, Van Bon beating Agnolutto and Van der Ven into second and third. The peloton finished just behind, German Erik Zabel winning the sprint for fourth place in the same time as the leading trio. Switzerland's Gregory Rast came in with the pack to retain the overall lead.
■ Cycling
Dead cyclist free of dope
A doping lab failed to find any drugs or banned substances in the body of promising young French cyclist Fabrice Salanson, who was found dead next to his hotel bed, the Dresden district attorney's office said yesterday. The lifeless body of the 23-year-old rider for team Brioches La Boulangere was discovered in his Holiday Inn room on Tuesday by a teammate. There were no visible signs of injury. Dresden police asked the International Olympic Committee doping lab in Kreischa to investigate, but the lab failed to find any substances that could have contributed to Salanson's death, district attorney Juergen Schaer told the German news agency DPA. The Frenchman was preparing to race the Tour of Germany with his team.
■ Cycling
Directors under house arrest
Two cycling team directors have been placed under house arrest and 22 other people are being investigated as part of a probe into doping, Italian police said on Thursday. Olivano Locatelli, team manager of Landbouwkrediet and William Dazzani, manager of the women's Team 2002 Aurora, were both arrested. "I can confirm that Olivano Locatelli and William Dazzani were arrested and 22 other people were formally placed under investigation and 35 locations [were] searched in eight different regions of Italy as a continuation of the investigation started last May," Lieutenant Mario Cavaretta, who is from the customs section of the Italian police, said.
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