■ Taekwondo
Lopez wins gold medal
Steven Lopez of the US took his third world title in Madrid, Spain on Friday, winning the welterweight gold at the World Taekwondo Championships with a 3-2 win over Ali Tajik of Iran. Two-time Olympic champion Lopez took the advantage over Tajik in the second round of the final. Their encounter was delayed by an unsuccessful Spanish protest over the judges awarding Lopez the decisive point in the fourth round of his 3-2 semifinal victory over Rosendo Alonso. In the finweight division, the title went to South Korea's Kim Jin-Hee, who defeated another Iranian, Feizollah Nafjam, 4-1. The women's welterweight gold also went to South Korea. Hwang Kyung-seon beat Gwladys Epangue of France 7-2. Host Spain won its first gold medal of the championships when Belen Asensio beat South Korea's Yu Eun-young 4-1 to take the women's finweight title.
■ Athletics
Record set in decathlon
Austra Skujyte of Lithuania broke the IAAF women's decathlon world record in Columbia, Missouri on Friday in the first North American staging of the fledgling event. Skujyte, a former Kansas State University standout and the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the heptathlon, scored 8,366 points in the two-day event at the University of Missouri's Audrey Walton Combined Events. That broke the previous record of 8,160 points, set by France's Marie Collinville in September. The women's decathlon, which is not yet an Olympic event, includes the 100m dash, discus, pole vault, javelin, 400m dash, 100m hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump and 1,500m.
■ Soccer
MLS may add team
A Major League Soccer team could go to San Antonio, Texas as early as 2006 if several conditions are met under an agreement reached this week between the league and city. The MLS agreed to grant San Antonio a team if an ownership group is secured, 5,000 season tickets are sold by Aug. 17, and plans are completed for construction of a training complex that includes youth soccer fields. "As one of the country's fastest-growing and most diverse cities, MLS is convinced that San Antonio is an ideal home for a Major League Soccer club," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. Garber said the 12-team league is in discussions with several possible ownership groups. As part of the agreement, the city has agreed to provide a stadium. The deal grants the team rights to all ticket sales, and certain sponsorship and stadium signage sales.
■ Rugby
Wilkinson plays match
Jonny Wilkinson took his first step toward proving he should be a late selection for this year's Lions tour, emerging unscathed from his return to rugby with club side the Newcastle Falcons in London on Friday. The injury plagued England fly half was summoned from the Newcastle bench in the 34th minute of the Falcons' 23-22 premiership loss at Northampton. It was Wilkinson's first match since suffering a recurrence of a knee injury a month ago, and he slotted into the side by kicking three penalties and a conversion.
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