■ Baseball
Marines crush Blue Wave
South Korean slugger Lee Seung-yeop connected for his first homer in Japan Friday as the Lotte Marines cruised to a 12-2 victory over the Orix BlueWave in a preseason exhibition game. Lee, who broke the Asian single-season home run record with 56 homers last season for the Samsung Lions, hit a solo homer in the second inning at Yahoo BB Stadium as the Marines took a 5-0 lead. Kazuya Fukuura, Koichi Hori and Masaumi Shimizu also homered for the Marines. Lotte starter Tomohiro Kuroki, looking to make a comeback after several injury-plagued seasons, picked up the win after giving up two runs on three hits over three innings. At Nagoya Dome, Masahiko Morino belted a two-run homer in the seventh inning to power the Chunichi Dragons to a 4-0 victory over the Seibu Lions.
■ Soccer
Maradona blasts agent
Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona has accused his longtime agent of mismanaging his finances, saying in a television interview he was "betrayed" by his former associate. "Some of my money is missing," Maradona told news talkshow El Diario de la Tarde on Wednesday, accusing former manager Guillermo Coppola of mishandling his funds. "He was the only one in charge of my things," Maradona said. "Coppola betrayed me. There is no other way around it." Coppola did not immediately respond to the accusations. The comments by the former Argentine captain marked another turbulent twist in the nearly 20-year relationship between Maradona and his former manager, who for years were practically inseparable. Maradona said he has yet to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties and other fees, some of it proceeds from a 2001 farewell match played in Buenos Aires.
■ Soccer
Man Utd eyes bigger stadium
Manchester United already has the biggest stadium in England. Now it wants to increase Old Trafford's seating capacity from 67,500 to 75,000 -- twice that of most clubs in the Premier League. United told the London Stock Exchange yesterday it had launched a feasibility study into the cost of filling in the two corners of the ground at the North Stand side, opposite the managers' dugouts. "Any decision to proceed will be taken by the board in due course and announced thereafter," the statement said. United has sold out every league match since Old Trafford's capacity was increased from 55,000 to 67,500 four years ago. News reports said the extra seats could generate more than ?400,000 (US$724,000) a year.
■ Rugby Union
Player steals taxi cab
The ACT Rugby Union yesterday barred Henari Veratau from the Brumbies' tour to South Africa after he was charged by police with stealing a cab in Canberra, the union said. Veratau, a 20-year-old winger or center, was being held in the Canberra watch house yesterday until he appeared before magistrates court today. It is alleged a 38-year-old taxi driver was dragged from his seat after an argument over a fare early yesterday and had his cab stolen. ACT Rugby Union CEO Rob Clarke said his organization was cooperating with police and the union would conduct a separate internal investigation. "We've been in touch with the police and we'll do what we can to assist them with their investigation," he said. "We've also opened a separate internal investigation into the matter." Clarke said the allegations and charges were extremely disappointing.
■ Rugby League
New scandal erupts
A second top Australian rugby league side was implicated yesterday in the scandal which has engulfed Sydney's Canterbury Bulldogs, as the Melbourne Storm club admitted two of its players were under investigation for alleged rape. A spokesman for the Storm confirmed a report in yesterday's Herald Sun newspaper that police had questioned two unnamed players about the alleged rape of a young woman in a suburban Melbourne apartment on Feb. 8. However, Melbourne Storm executive director John Ribot defended a delay in notifying the National Rugby League about the investigation. He said the two players admitted they were with the woman and, as far as he knew, "relations" had taken place, but the club had conducted its own inquiry and decided the players were not guilty.
■ Motor Racing
Election held on race day
National elections will be held on the same day as the Malaysian Grand Prix, but officials promised that neither would interfere with the other. Organizers yesterday predicted that the election might cause crowd numbers to be down slightly on race day, March 21, but otherwise the election will have no effect. "The race will go on," said Azhar Ghazali, a spokesman for the Sepang International Circuit where the race is held. "We hope to see both the elections and the race proceed smoothly, because both are of national interest." Election officials, who announced the polling date yesterday, urged Malaysian Formula One fans not to neglect their democratic responsibilities by shirking voting to watch the race.
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