■ Swimming
`Tarzan' Jr fights for medals
The son of Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller is trying to get his father's medals and other mementos from the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Johnny Weissmuller Jr, 65, told the Miami Herald that his father's will stated he should have possession of the items. They include five gold medals, one bronze medal, several photographs, the athlete's swimsuit from the 1928 Olympics and a loin cloth from Weissmuller's days as Tarzan in the movies. Weissmuller Jr's wife said they feel the items are not secure at the Hall of Fame. "There have been just too many shenanigans at the Hall of Fame," Diane Weissmuller said. "One serious hurricane and everything Johnny Weissmuller earned could be wiped out," she said. The athlete's medals and other swimming memorabilia were stolen from the Hall of Fame in 2004. They were returned last September. A former maintenance worker has been charged with stealing the items, valued at nearly US$500,000.
■ Football
Eagles sign Olympic skier
The Philadelphia Eagles on Wednesday signed two-time American Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom to a four-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. A wide receiver and kick returner, Bloom was selected in the fifth round of this year's draft by the Eagles. Bloom's college career at Colorado was put on hold in 2004 when the NCAA ruled that because he accepted endorsements as a skier he was ineligible to play college football. A speedy but undersized player, Bloom had five touchdowns of 75 yards or more in two seasons at Colorado. After finishing in sixth place in the Turin Winter Olympics, Bloom ran a 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds at the NFL scouting combine.
■ Tennis
Serena to return next week
Serena Williams will play her first match in six months when she returns to the tour at the Cincinnati hard-court tournament next week. She missed the French Open and Wimbledon because of a chronic left knee injury that's prevented her from playing anywhere since a third-round loss at the Australian Open in January. She's played a total of four matches over the past 10 months, going 2-2. Once ranked No. 1 and the winner of seven Grand Slam titles, Williams is No. 140 in this week's rankings.
■ Horse Racing
Fallon loses appeal
Champion jockey Kieren Fallon will not be allowed to race in Britain after he lost his appeal to the Horseracing Regulatory Authority yesterday. Ireland's Fallon, one of horse racing's most successful jockeys, was among 11 people charged by police in "Operation Crypton," Britain's biggest race-fixing investigation. They are accused of conspiring to defraud customers of an online betting exchange. "I am deeply disappointed by the refusal of the HRA to overturn my suspension from riding in the UK," Fallon said in a statement.
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