■Baseball
Tiger bra a lift for Hanshin
On a rare winning streak that could bring them their first title in 18 years, Japan's long-suffering Hanshin Tigers baseball team got a little extra support yesterday from a newly designed bra. Cuddly "Truckee," the tiger mascot of the Osaka-based team, peeps out from each cup of the black-and-gold tiger-print brassiere, while the matching briefs feature a removable tiger tail. Maker Triumph International Japan plans to put 500 sets of the underwear on sale at ?10,000 (US$85) a throw when the league championship competition nears its climax next month. "The Hanshin Tigers have brought us some cheer amid all the bad news, so we wanted to provide a bright topic, too," said Hiromi Shinta, a public relations executive at Triumph.
■ Basketball
Salary cap set at US$44m
The NBA salary cap for the 2003-04 season will be almost US$44 million, a jump of about 9 percent from last season. The league and the players' union released the new figure Tuesday night on the eve of the expiration of a moratorium on free agent signings. Their financial calculations showed the average salary to be US$4.917 million, which will become the starting salary for any free agent signed to the full mid-level exception. The new salary cap figure of US$43.84 million is the highest in NBA history. A year ago, the figure dropped from US$42.5 million to US$40.27 million -- the first drop since the salary cap system was adopted for the 1984-85 season. The salary cap represents the maximum amount of payroll a team can spend on player salaries.
■ Baseball
Expos eye Puerto Rico
The Montreal Expos could play their entire home schedule in Puerto Rico next season under a plan being considered by major league baseball. To raise revenue, the commissioner's office moved 22 of the team's 81 home games this season to Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. Baseball still hasn't come up with a permanent solution for the Expos, who were bought by the other 29 teams before this season. While baseball's goal is to have a decision by September, the sport's top officials say they don't feel bound by any deadline.
■ Baseball
Dodgers sign Henderson
Desperate for offensive help, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed 44-year-old Rickey Henderson on Monday and acquired slugging outfielder Jeromy Burnitz from the New York Mets. The Mets, unloading another high-priced player, will receive three minor leaguers -- infielder Victor Diaz and right-handed relievers Joselo Diaz and Kole Strayhorn. New York will also pay part of Burnitz's remaining salary this season. "We really like these two guys," Dodgers general manager Dan Evans said of Henderson and Burnitz. "I think these two guys can come in and improve our ballclub. We're not asking either one to do more than they're capable of doing." The 34-year-old Burnitz, who has played all three outfield positions, figures to replace Brian Jordan in left field.
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