■ Baseball
Pat Dobson dies suddenly
Pat Dobson, one of four Baltimore Orioles pitchers to claim 20 wins during the 1971 season, died suddenly on Wednesday aged 64. The announcement was made on Thursday by the San Francisco Giants, where Dobson had been a scout and special assistant to general manager Brian Sabean for nine years. Dobson posted a record of 20-8 during the 1971 season as part of a punishing Orioles starting rotation that included Dave McNally (21-5), Mike Cuellar (20-9) and Jim Palmer (20-10).
■ Boxing
Former inmate ready to box
Scott Harrison believes his stint in a Spanish jail will help him retain his WBO featherweight title next month. Harrison, who was released on Nov. 13 after 5 1/2 weeks behind bars in Malaga, Spain, for an alleged assault, is scheduled to fight Nicky Cook on Dec. 9 in London. "The food wasn't very good in prison. I was eating two meals a day and my weight's come down," Harrison said on Thursday, speaking publicly for the first time since his release on bail. "The boys in the jail made a skipping rope for me and some weights as well and I was also able to do some push-ups," he said.
■ Hockey
Columbus gets new coach
Ken Hitchcock was headed back to Philadelphia for his first game with the Columbus Blue Jackets. A month after being fired by Philadelphia, Hitchcock was formally introduced on Thursday as the Blue Jackets' coach. Columbus, last in the NHL standings, were scheduled to play the Flyers -- just a point ahead of the Blue Jackets -- yesterday in Philadelphia. "When I was on the plane flying here, I felt like, `Man, I'm in The Twilight Zone."' Hitchcock said. "I hope the players have a lot better day than I'll have tomorrow. It's going to be a tough day," he said. Hitchcock said his first goal is to restore the team's confidence.
■ Skiing
Nyman fastest in training
The US' Steve Nyman had the fastest time in training on Thursday for the season-opening World Cup downhill tomorrow, completing the 3,136m course in 1 minute, 49.99 seconds. "I improved in areas where I was horrible yesterday, but there were some areas where I messed up today that I was great in yesterday," said Nyman, from Provo, Utah. "It's a training run. That's the beauty of downhill. It's not just one day. It's three days of preparation for the big day." Austrian Christoph Gruber, the fastest in the first training run on Wednesday, was second in 1:50.1, and Sweden's Patrik Jaerbyn followed in 1:50.66.
■ Cycling
Beijing course `for climbers'
Top sprinters like Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen can forget about going for gold in the Olympics' road race in Beijing in two years, one top official said. The Beijing course was given its first public airing on Thursday, and top International Cycling Union (UCI) delegate Charly Mottet has called it a "true course for climbers." "It's similar to a climbing stage on the Tour de France," said Mottet, a former champion cyclist who is now a consultant for planning stages on major races. "What is being proposed, but hasn't been approved yet, is a start near the Forbidden City, going past Tiananmen Square and then leaving Beijing towards the Great Wall of China. "That part is 80 km, and all of it is flat. But then, when they reach the Wall the riders will have to negotiate a circuit of 24 km to be covered six or seven times," Mottet said in the interview with Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure.
■ Soccer
Vietnamese tackle UK sides
Vietnamese top-flight team Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) will travel to England next month to take on three Premier League clubs in friendly matches, state media reported yesterday. HAGL, who finished fourth in this season's V-League, will face Arsenal on Dec. 13, Charlton Athletic on Dec. 16 and Tottenham Hotspur on Dec. 21, reports said. The club's chairman visited London last month to discuss commercial deals with Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, in which HAGL would promote the clubs in Vietnam in return for Premier League coaches training their players.
■ Cycling
Swiss likely to probe Ullrich
Swiss anti-doping chiefs said on Thursday they are likely to open disciplinary proceedings against former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich in January. Bernhard Welten, the commission's legal expert, told reporters he expected the disciplinary body to deliver a ruling about two months after it takes up the case, the average for most cases its considers. Welten said he was waiting for documents to arrive from Germany before opening the procedure. "That will most probably be at the beginning of January. As soon as these documents are in I will put together the case file and petition the disciplinary chamber for a decision," he said. Ullrich, a former Olympic champion who won the Tour's yellow jersey in 1997, was barred from competing in this year's Tour de France after being implicated in a doping investigation by Spanish police. The German cyclist, who has a Swiss cycling license, is alleged to have been given EPO, steroids and human growth hormone by a Madrid doctor, Eufemiano Fuentes, who is accused of running a major doping ring.
■ Soccer
Bridge extends Chelsea deal
Defender Wayne Bridge signed a new four-year contract with two-time defending English Premier League champion Chelsea on Thursday. Bridge had 18 months left on his contract but is now signed until 2010. "I feel as though I'm playing well this season," the 26-year-old England international said. "I believe that I will continue to get opportunities. It's been a great week for me and I'm delighted to have signed." Bridge joined Chelsea in 2003 from Southampton and spent last season on loan to Fulham. He has made 85 appearances for Chelsea and has won 24 international caps.
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