■ Horse Racing
Pegasus sold for US$4.5m
A 2-year-old colt sired by 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus sold for a record US$4.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton auction at Calder Race Course. Japanese businessman Fusao Sekiguchi, who owns Fusaichi Pegasus, outbid Satish Sanan, John Ferguson and others Tuesday for the first foal from Hidden Storm. Sekiguchi bought Fusaichi Pegasus, a son of legendary sire Mr. Prospector, for US$4 million at a yearling sale in 1998. "There were a lot similarities to Fusaichi Pegasus," Sekiguchi said. "History always repeats itself." Sekiguchi said the colt will be trained by Neil Drysdale, who also trained Fusaichi Pegasus. Sekiguchi's record purchase for a 2-year-old at public auction broke the previous mark set earlier in the day. Ferguson, regular agent for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, Dubai's crown prince, bought a colt by Stephen Got Even for US$3.1 million.
■ Football
NFL raises its salary cap
The salary cap for the NFL for next season will be nearly US$80.6 million, a US$5.6 million increase from last season. The league announced the figure on Tuesday for the free agent period which begins on March 3, when all teams must be at or below that salary number. The cap this year is 64.75 percent of the league's defined gross revenues, which is made up of radio and television revenue and gate receipts from all games -- preseason, regular season and playoffs. The actual number will be US$80.582 million, compared to last season's US$75 million. Teams must spend at least US$67.3 million under the cap rules.
■ Swimming
Shane Gould plans return
Shane Gould, winner of three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics, is planning a comeback at the Australian swimming championships at the age of 47. Gould, a mother of four and soon to be grandmother, will contest the 50m butterfly at the national championships in Sydney on April 1. "Some of my competitors are younger than my own children, so there is some anxiety," Gould said. "But I have qualified so I'll give it my best shot."
■ Boxing
John Ruiz is WBA champ
John Ruiz is officially the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion. Ruiz, 32, became the WBA interim champion when he beat Hasim Rahman on Dec. 13. Ruiz was informed Tuesday the interim tag was being removed after Roy Jones Jr. confirmed he was relinquishing the belt to remain the WBC light heavyweight champion. "I'm happy not having 'interim' next to my name," Ruiz said from his Las Vegas home. "As proud as I am to be the first Latino heavyweight champion of the world, I'm equally proud to be the first two-time Latino heavyweight champion of the world."
■ Hockey
Carl Liscombe dies at 89
Carl Liscombe, who helped the Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in 1943, died of complications from leukemia. He was 89. Liscombe died Monday night in Hawaii, where he was living with his daughter, Susan. He had moved there in September. Liscombe played from 1937-1946 for the Red Wings, totaling 137 goals and 277 points. He shares the team record for most goals in a playoff game (four) and most points in a game (seven). Liscombe was active with the Red Wings Alumni Association from the time of its formation in 1959, said Bill Knight, the group's secretary.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier