■ Speedskating
Shinya wins 500m race
Jeremy Wotherspoon broke his Canadian record in the men's 500m while winning the opening race of the World Cup long track speedskating season Saturday in Calgary, Canada. American Jennifer Rodriguez won the women's 1,000m, and Shihomi Shinya of Japan took the 500m. Wotherspoon, who lost only one 500m race last year, won in 34.37 seconds, lowering his previous Canadian mark of 34.41 set last season in Salt Lake City. He came within 0.05 of the world record. Gerard Van Velde of the Netherlands was second Saturday in 34.59, followed by Dmitry Lobkov of Russia in 34.63. "It was a solid race from start to finish," Wotherspoon said. ``There are some areas I would have liked to have done better, but you can't ask for much more at the start of the season. We're not in peak condition yet." Wotherspoon now has 46 career World Cup wins, two fewer than all-time men's leader Uwe Jens May of Germany.
■ Bobsled
German women sweep
Sandra Prokoff fought through an ankle injury to record the two fastest runs Saturday and lead a German sweep in a women's World Cup bobsled race in Lake Placid, New York. Prokoff has won the first three World Cup events this season, with two victories last weekend in Calgary, Alberta. Prokoff, who hurt her ankle while warming up, piloted Germany 1 with brakeman Anja Schneiderheinze to a time of 58.38 seconds in the first run. Even though steady snow slowed the track, they managed to tie the course record. A second run of 58.58 gave them a total time of 1 minute, 56.96 seconds. Still, they won by a mere .02 seconds over teammates Susi Erdmann and Nicole Herschmann. "I had to really fight hard to win today's race," Prokoff said. "Between the injury and the snowfall, it was difficult." Erdmann, driving Germany 2, was right behind in 1:57.03. Cathleen Martini, with Yvonne Cernota on the brakes, took the bronze medal in 1:57.38. The competition ends today with a second women's bobsled race.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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