■ Soccer
Lokomotiv on a roll
After not winning the Russian league title in nearly eight decades, Lokomotiv Moscow now has won it twice in three years. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov scored just four minutes into the match and Dmitri Sychev tallied a second 17 minutes later as Lokomotiv Moscow beat Shinnik Yaroslavl 2-0 Thursday to clinch the crown over defending champion and crosstown rival CSKA. Lokomotiv finished atop the 16-team league with 61 points from 30 games, one point ahead of CSKA. Krylia Sovetov Samara and Zenit St. Petersburg were tied with 56 points, but Samara finished third place on their head-to-head results. Lokomotiv won the 2002 title for the first time since the league began in 1923. Playing at Shinnik's home stadium in Yaroslavl, Bilyaletdinov -- a 19-year-old playing his first season with the Moscow side -- opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a left-footed shot off a lobbing pass from Sychev. In the 21st minute, Sychev outplayed two Shinnik defenders in the box to make it 2-0.
■ Golf
Daly's wife in trouble
The wife of two-time major golf champion John Daly pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering charge in Oxford, Mississippi on Friday. Sherrie Miller Daly and her parents, Alvis and Billie Miller, were indicted on charges stemming from what authorities said was a drug ring and an illegal gambling operation. No sentencing date was set for Sherrie Daly. She could face a maximum prison sentence of five years, a fine of US$250,000 or both, Assistant US Attorney John Hailman said. Alvis Miller was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Billie Miller received five months to serve and five months of home supervision.
■ Rugby
Bulgarelli to appeal
A National Rugby League player fired by the Canberra Raiders for allegedly being the intended recipient of banned drugs posted to the club's headquarters will appeal the termination of his contract. A package containing tablets of illicit drug ecstasy was mailed to the Raiders and a club investigation determined that Jason Bulgarelli was expected to be the receiver. Bulgarelli, 28, has asked the National Rugby League and the Rugby League Players' Association to intervene and his manager, David Riolo, said the case could end up in court. "Jason is innocent and will prove it by having his name cleared through the court system," Riolo told the Weekend newspaper.
■ Auto racing
Barltrop avoids prison
A driver involved in the collision which killed multiple rally driving champion Possum Bourne avoided jail when he appeared in a Wellington, New Zealand court Friday for sentencing on driving charges. Michael Barltrop was sentenced to 300 hours community work and ordered to pay NZ$10,000 (US$6,800) in damages after pleading guilty to aggravated careless driving causing death. Barltrop and Bourne were involved in reconnaissance for a hillclimb event at Wanaka on New Zealand's South Island in April when their vehicles collided. Bourne suffered head injuries and died in hospital 12 days after the collision.
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