■Tennis
Top seeds tumble
James Blake capped a bad day for seeds at the Hall of Fame Championships when he was eliminated by Gregory Carraz on Tuesday. Blake, the top seed and last year's runner-up, lost 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 as five seeds fell, four of them on court. "He was going for it," Blake said of Carraz. "He had nothing to lose and played looser. He was the looser one. He definitely had nothing to lose because he was expected to lose." Defending champion Taylor Dent, the No. 2 seed, withdrew earlier in the day because of a pinched nerve in his right hand. No. 3 Mardy Fish, lost 7-6 (3), 7-5 to Dusan Vemic, a qualifier from Serbia-Montenegro.
■ Boxing
Candid Tyson bares soul
Mike Tyson says he has lost his soul as a human being and hates himself. "Maybe in my next life, I'll have a better life," Tyson said in an interview for Fox Sports Net's <
■ Hockey
Lyashenko confirmed dead
The manager of the Turkish hotel where Roman Lyashenko, a member of the New York Rangers' organization, was found dead on Sunday, on Tuesday confirmed a report by a law-enforcement official that the hockey player had committed suicide. Bozkurt Atilla, the general manager of the Club Letonya Hotel in the resort town of Antayla, said that he had been summoned to Lyashenko's room on Sunday morning after his body was discovered by Lyashenko's sister. Lyashenko was found hanging by his belt in the bathtub.
■ Baseball
Boy burned by firework
An 8-year-old boy watching the Oakland Athletics' game against Tampa Bay on Tuesday suffered burns on one of his legs when another fan tossed an explosive device from the upper deck of the Coliseum. The boy was taken to a local hospital for treatment. No further information was immediately available. A suspect was in police custody after the incident in the bottom of the third inning, the Athletics said. The device, commonly known as a cherry bomb, made a loud boom as it fell from the third deck to the first tier of bleachers in left field. Players turned to look, causing a short delay.
■ Soccer
Eriksson denies move
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that he is after the job at Chelsea. The Swede admitted that he had met new Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and his agent, Pini Zahavi, in London but the insisted the reason was purely a social one. "I can confirm that last week I met with Pini Zahavi and the new owner of Chelsea Football Club -- Roman Abramovich," Eriksson told the Football Association Web site. "Due to the intense media profile given to Mr. Abramovich's involvement with Chelsea, I accept that this meeting may create unfortunate speculation," Eriksson said. "Therefore, I would like to once again categorically reaffirm my total commitment to my role as England head coach."
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