■ Cricket
Dravid fractures finger
Captain Rahul Dravid became India's third injury casualty on its tour of South Africa, ruled out on Monday for the remaining two one-day matches and a Twenty/20 encounter due to a fractured middle finger of his right hand. Dravid was injured while unsuccessfully attempting a catch during Sunday's 106-run loss to South Africa in the third of five one-day internationals. It was the third loss of the tour. India lost the tour-opener against the Rest of South Africa and the second one-day international against South Africa by 157 runs after the first match was washed out. Dravid was the third player injured on the tour. Virender Sehwag cut his middle finger on Nov. 16 and missed out on the second match in Durban while Munaf Patel was unavailable for Sunday's match with a sore left ankle.
■ Olympics
London shrinks swim center
London has announced a redesigned, smaller aquatics center for the 2012 Olympics in a bid to cut spiraling costs. After media reports suggested the initial project threatened to go over twice the ?75 million (US$142.5 million) budget, Olympics minister Tessa Jowell instructed architect Zaha Hadid to come up with a cheaper and less ambitious design. London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe said the new cost of the venue -- which will house the swimming and diving events but not water polo -- has not been finalized. Jowell announced a week ago that infrastructure costs for the games had risen by ?900 million pounds from the amount quoted in the bid. Organizers are under pressure to keep down costs which Jowel said currently total ?3.3 billion. The new design will keep to the original 20,000 overall capacity with 15,000 for the swimming arena and 5,000 for diving. Although the stylish wave-shaped roof will remain, it will be two-and-a-half times smaller than originally planned.
■ Volleyball
Serbia make world semis
Serbia and Montenegro defeated host Japan yesterday to advance to the semi-finals of the men's volleyball world championships. Ivan Miljkovic had a team-high 24 points as Serbia-Montenegro improved to 6-0 in Group E with a 28-26, 25-16, 25-21 win over Japan. "It was very important to win the first set," said Serbia and Montenegro captain Nikola Grbic. "We knew Japan are tough." Serbia and Montenegro clinched a spot in the semi-finals along with Poland, which came back from two sets down to edge Russia 19-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-11 and improve to 6-0. Bulgaria was the only other team to advance to the semi-finals with a 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-10 win over France in Group F.
■ Boxing
Former champ hospitalized
Former heavyweight boxing champion Greg Page was hospitalized in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday with pneumonia. He is being treated for pneumonia and other complications and was listed in stable condition, Jewish Hospital said in a statement. Page, 48, sustained brain damage during a fight in 2001. He was admitted to the hospital in March because of acute respiratory failure, sepsis, hypothermia and seizures and had pneumonia during his earlier hospitalization. After he was injured five years ago, Page slipped into a coma and had a stroke during post-fight surgery. He is paralyzed on his left side. Page became WBA champion in December 1984 by knocking out Gerrie Coetzee in the eighth round of their bout in South Africa.
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