■ BOXING
Diaconu wins shot at title
Romanian-born Adrian Diaconu improved to 24-0 on Wednesday night, stopping the US' Rico Hoye 42 seconds into the third round of their WBC light heavyweight elimination fight. With the victory, the Canada-based Diaconu became the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Chad Dawson, the undefeated American who won the title with a Feb. 3 decision over Poland's Tomasz Adamek. Hoye dropped to 20-2.
■ TENNIS
Long odds for Hewitt win
Australian punters have all but given up hope of Lleyton Hewitt winning this month's French Open, with bookmakers offering the extraordinary odds of 200-1 on the former world No. 1. When Hewitt was at the peak of his powers, Australians bet millions of dollars on him winning events, but no longer. The 26-year-old has not won a grand slam title in almost five years and has slipped to 20th in the world rankings. "He was an enormously popular player a few years back," Glenn Munsie, spokesman for bookmakers TAB, told Sydney's Daily Telegraph. "Everyone from big punters to pub and club punters backed him consistently. He had the image of the little Aussie battler. But it's not hard to track the decline in his popularity."
■ SOCCER
Hammers rule out appeal
West Ham United will not appeal the ?5.5 million (US$11 million) fine imposed by the Premier League for contract irregularities over the signing of Argentine internationals Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. The London side were hit with the massive penalty following a two-day hearing last month. Controversially, however, the Hammers avoided a points deduction and have subsequently climbed out of the relegation places. New chairman Eggert Magnusson, who was not involved in last summer's signings, said in a statement: "I think it is now time to draw a line under this matter. The fine imposed on us was very significant but we accept that mistakes were made and it is now time to move on." West Ham's decision will come as little surprise, given that the punishment meted out to them was deemed lenient by their relegation rivals, who have threatened legal action.
■ BASKETBALL
Yao Ming plans new gym
Yao Ming plans to open a fitness center in China. The health club chain 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide announced the partnership with the National Basketball Association All-Star on Wednesday. The California Fitness-Yao Ming Sport Club will open in August. California Fitness currently operates 24 centers across Asia. "California Fitness/24 Hour Fitness is the best at what they do -- helping people improve their lives through health and fitness," Yao said. "Especially in the larger cities in China, people's lifestyles are changing and it's having an impact on their health. In order to achieve my personal goals, I spend a lot of time getting stronger through exercise. I want to lead by example and encourage people to live better by incorporating fitness into their daily lives." As part of the multiyear joint venture, Yao will be an equity partner. He will appear in advertising and make promotional appearances on behalf of the club.
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