■ Olympics
China targets counterfeits
China is rife with counterfeit products and Olympic organizers are trying to stem the flow leading up to next year's Olympics. Repeating an earlier pledge, Yuan Bin, director-general of the marketing department for the Beijing Organizing Committee, said yesterday that selling fake Olympic merchandise "would lead to prosecution, fines and other measures." "We attach great importance to the counterfeiting activities, and we are working closely with our legal department on this," Yuan said. "The specific measures we have been taking have been very effective. When we find a case we deal with it very immediately." Yuan declined to say if Beijing Olympic officials had made any arrests or filed charges against people selling fake Olympic products. Beijing officials have repeatedly said that Olympic-licensed products sold on the Internet are unauthorized and overwhelmingly counterfeit.
■ Rugby league
Terry Newton banned
Bradford's Great Britain hooker Terry Newton was on Tuesday banned for two matches for striking St Helens forward Jon Wilkin. The controversial Bradford player was placed on report by referee Richard Silverwood for a high and late tackle on Wilkin during the Bulls' 34-22 defeat to the Super League champions on Friday. Newton, who appeared before a disciplinary committee hearing in Leeds, will miss Bradford's home game against Salford on Sunday and their trip to Harlequins the following Saturday. Newton, who joined Bradford at the end of the 2005 season, missed the first 11 matches of last season because of a heavy suspension imposed for dangerous tackles on two other St Helens players, Sean Long and Lee Gilmour while he was still a Wigan player.
■ Rugby Union
France ring changes
France have recalled Dimitri Yachvili, Sebastien Chabal and Pieter de Villiers for Sunday's Six Nations match against England at Twickenham. Scrumhalf Yachvili was relegated to the bench for the three wins over Italy, Ireland and Wales but takes over from Pierre Mignoni for the England clash. Sale Sharks No. 8 Sebastien Chabal replaces Elvis Vermeulen while Pieter de Villiers, rested against Wales, recovers the tighthead prop slot at the expense of Nicolas Mas. Mas takes a berth on the bench due to the absence of Sylvain Marconnet, ruled out for up to four months after a skiing accident. Coach Bernard Laporte made two other changes among the replacements, selecting Sale hooker Sebastien Bruno ahead of Benoit August and wing Cedric Heymans ahead of Aurelien Rougerie.
■ Doping
More suspects arraigned
Two more people linked to a US investigation into the illegal sale of steroids were arraigned on Tuesday on drug-related charges as a published report implicated more athletes, including the winner of the a bodybuilding competition named for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Steven and Karen Lampert of Anti-Aging Centers in Nanuet pleaded not guilty in an Albany County courtroom and were released without bail. They are charged with submitting prescriptions to a pharmacy in the state of Florida -- some "obviously forged" according to the district attorney -- for drugs totaling more than US$50,000 for people without a medical need. Steven Lampert is charged with 20 counts, his wife with two.
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