■ Cricket
Pollock to the rescue
Injury-hit South Africa were boosted yesterday by the news that veteran all-rounder Shaun Pollock will arrive in Sri Lanka later this week following the birth of his second child. The 33-year-old will reach here on Thursday, missing the first of the two Test matches which starts at the Sinhalese sports club the same day, team spokesman Gordon Templeton said. Pollock, however, will have enough time to acclimatize to the hot and humid weather in the Sri Lankan capital before he takes the field in the second Test at the Sara stadium from August 4. The tourists, led by their first non-white captain Ashwell Prince, need Pollock's experience to tackle the formidable hosts in the absence of regular captain Graeme Smith and leading all-rounder Jacques Kallis. Smith was ruled out of the six-week tour, which also includes a limited-overs tri-series with India, when he suffered an ankle injury earlier this month. Kallis is still recovering from a tennis elbow injury and remains uncertain for the ICC Champions Trophy one-day tournament to be held in India in October-November.
■ Soccer
Bayern sweetens Ruud offer
Bayern Munich have upped their offer for Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, the German club's general manager Uli Hoeness said on Sunday. "Ruud wants to come to Bayern," Hoeness said after his side drew 1-1 with Austrian second division team Linz in a friendly match. Hoeness did not reveal the size of Bayern's new offer but United are believed to be holding out for around £15 million (US$28 million) and Real Madrid are already believed to have had a bid of £12 million turned down. Earlier in the day, Bayern general director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said he was already negotiating terms with the Dutch striker, but said it would be Manchester United who would make the final decision. "Van Nistelrooy has told us he would like to play for us next season," Rummenigge told Sunday's Bild newspaper.
■ Rugby
Wallabies mull Blake recall
Australia are considering recalling giant prop Rodney Blake to their side for Saturday's Tri-Nations match against New Zealand in Brisbane. The 23-year-old made his international debut against England last month but missed Australia's last three tests due to an ankle injury. Blake played for Australia A against Fiji on Friday, however, and came through the match unscathed. "He got through it pretty well," Australia coach John Connolly said. "We'll definitely consider him." Connolly will be keen to restore Blake to his front row to counter the powerful New Zealand scrum and may also be tempted to call Cameron Shepherd into his squad after the fullback's impressive performances in both Australia A games against Fiji.
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