■ Soccer
Nigeria to play Ireland
Nigeria will play Ireland and Jamaica as part of its build-up for 2006 World Cup qualifiers, a spokesman for the country's soccer association said on Thursday. "Our team will take on both countries in the Unity Cup tournament fixed for May 27 and June 2 in London," Samuel Kaalu told Reuters by phone from the capital Abuja. Kaalu said Nigeria's leading players were expected to play in the matches, despite the country's first World Cup qualifier against Rwanda being played in Lagos on June 5. "The tournament date had been fixed before we realized the problem, so something will be worked out," he said. Algeria, Angola, Gabon and Zimbabwe are also in African qualifying Group Four, from which the top team will qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany.
■ Formula One
Renault just behind Ferrari
Spain's Fernando Alonso overcame a troubled start to set a blistering pace with his new Renault engine at the Circuit de Catalunya, finishing second in Formula One testing to Michael Schumacher on Thursday. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barichello was third, then Jenson Button, a surprise success this season in the BAR-Honda. Alonso and Jarno Trulli tested the Renault engine for the first time on Wednesday with less than encouraging results. Trulli broke his on the 28th lap, and Alonso also experienced problems. Both drivers replaced engines and were able to test their cars successfully on Thursday. Trulli was seventh. Schumacher, winner of the season's first three Formula One grand prix, set the best lap time at 1 minute, 23.764 seconds. Yesterday would be the fourth and last test session at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona before the San Marino Grand Prix on April 25. The Spanish GP follows on May 9.
■ Formula One
Cars might become slower
Formula One could be forced to slow down this season after the sport's governing body expressed concern about rising speeds on Thursday. International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley said that the governing body was prepared to flex its muscles. "We are looking very carefully at possibly using powers that we have under the Concorde Agreement to reduce the performance of the cars," he said, referring to the confidential accord governing the sport. "If we conclude that the cars are too fast, then we can give notice to the teams under the Concorde Agreement which requires the technical working group to come up with proposals for slowing the cars," he said.
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