The International Cycling Union blasted the World Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday for leaking a confidential Tour de France report and vowed to exclude the agency from upcoming races. \nThe UCI was furious it didn't get the chance to study and amend "certain inaccurate points" in the report before it was leaked to the press and published in Monday's edition of the French sports daily L'Equipe. \n"The UCI observes once more that these information leaks are absolutely unacceptable, often originate from France, and always take cycling as a privileged target," the body said in a statement. \n"The UCI is not willing to tolerate similar situations anymore.'' \nIt demanded WADA open an official investigation into the origin of the leak. \n"You don't publish a confidential document," UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani said. \n"We want to know the reasons documents are continually being leaked and most regularly in France." \nA WADA statement issued Wednesday denied the agency leaked the report, saying it was provided to stakeholders as a courtesy before the official release expected today. \nWADA said its director general, David Howman, condemned the leaking of the report and had spoken to UCI president Hein Verbruggen. \n"We share UCI's concerns over the leaks to the media and we will work with them and our other partners, such as the French Ministry for Sport, to make sure that those responsible are identified," Howman said. \nUCI noted that WADA apologized but said its confidence in the agency had been dented. \n"Until this is resolved WADA will not be invited to any UCI cycling races," Carpani said. "For now there will be no more WADA observers." \nWADA president Dick Pound, who also is a senior IOC member, said future cooperation was crucial to combatting drug use in cycling. \n"We want to continue to work with UCI to reduce the impact of performance-enhancing drugs in that sport," Pound said. \n"I am confident we can work together again at future Tours." \nUCI was angered by observations in the report that riders have time to cheat when they are notified of being tested.
Standout Filipino college basketball player Ricci Rivero said he wants to start his professional career by playing in the P.League+ as opposed to other leagues in Asia because of the sizeable Philippine community in Taiwan, his new team the Taoyuan Pilots said on Monday. “There are nearly 150,000 Filipinos living and working in Taiwan, the mere thought of playing in front of them and being the first to represent them in one of Taiwan’s best basketball leagues is already a big motivation for me to choose Taiwan over other Asian basketball leagues,” Rivero said in a Taoyuan Pilots statement. Although
Taipei Municipal Fulin Elementary School’s baseball team yesterday beat South Korea in the regional final to win the right to represent the Asia-Pacific region in this year’s Little League Baseball World Series. The Taiwan team’s 1-0 victory over hosts South Korea was largely down to the excellent performance of starting pitcher Liao Kuan-shu, who pitched six scoreless innings, in which he only gave up two hits at Hwaseong Dream Park in South Korea. After Taiwan earned a single in the bottom of the second inning, Liao in the third hit a two-out double, helping to eke out a 1-0 victory, as they
Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is due to face a court in Australia after being summonsed to face a charge of assaulting a former girlfriend. The 27-year-old Australian is to appear in court in the capital, Canberra, next month. Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing on Tuesday confirmed that Kyrgios had been summonsed to face a charge of assaulting his former girlfriend. It relates to an incident in Canberra in December last year. “ACT Policing can confirm a 27-year-old Watson man is scheduled to face the ACT Magistrates Court on [Aug. 2] in relation to one charge of common assault following an incident in December 2021,”
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying was knocked out of the Malaysia Open yesterday, losing her women’s singles semi-final against Chen Yufei of China 19-21, 21-13, 21-15. Despite two previous victories for second-seeded Tai against Chen this season — including her win in the final of the Thailand Open — fourth-seeded Chen dispatched the world No. 2 in 1 hour, 8 minutes at Kuala Lumpur’s Axiata Arena, securing a spot in the Super 750 tournament’s final. Tai won the opening game of the last-four matchup, scoring two consecutive points after the score was tied 19-19. However, she had a horrific points drought after the
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