CRICKET
Wright gets top post
Former India cricket coach John Wright is about to take up a senior coaching position in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday. Wright, a former New Zealand opening batsman who stepped down as India coach two years ago, will become head coach at Cricket Australia's Brisbane-based Center of Excellence, the newspaper said. He will replace Tim Nielsen who has been appointed coach of the world champion Australian national team. Wright, 52, has been linked to several top coaching jobs since he left India after a successful tenure.
TENNIS
Pironkova to face Sharapova
Tsvetana Pironkova beat Olga Govortsova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 on Monday to set up a second-round match against Maria Sharapova in the Istanbul Cup. The top-seeded Russian had a bye in the first round of the clay-court tournament. Second-seeded Elena Dementieva also had a bye and will play Jelena Kostanic Tosic. The Croat beat Yaroslava Shvedova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. Fifth-seeded Alona Bondarenko dropped only one game to beat Pemra Ozgen of Turkey 6-1, 6-0, while seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Ekaterina Bychkova 7-5, 7-5. The field also includes fourth-seeded Venus Williams who is due to face Tatiana Putchek in the first round.
BOXING
Harrisson released from jail
Former WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrisson was released from a Spanish jail on Monday after being held over the weekend for getting into a fight in a brothel, his second arrest in Spain in seven months. The 29-year-old Scottish fighter and two other Britons were detained on Saturday night in the southern town of Alhaurin el Grande after they got into a brawl with other clientele at the El Oxigeno brothel, police said on Monday. Three people, including the brothel owner, were injured in the fight, but it was unclear what caused the dispute, local news reports said.
OLYMPICS
Barcelona to play exhibition
Spanish champions Barcelona led by playmaker Ronaldinho will play an exhibition match in Beijing on Aug. 5 to help launch the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, city officials said. The outgoing European champions will play Chinese Super league club Beijing Guo'an, according to Sun Kanglin, the director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau. Barcelona's top stars will all be coming to China for the Aug. 3 to Aug. 6 tour, said Sun, including Ronaldinho, the 2004 and 2005 World Player of the Year who is China's favorite foreign player, according to a recent survey of 30,000 sports fans. The announcement dominated sports pages in Beijing newspapers yesterday.
CYCLING
Napolitano wins stage
Danilo Napolitano won the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia on Monday in a sprint finish, and Marco Pinotti retained the overall leader's pink jersey. Napolitano completed the 177km course in 4 hours, 57 minutes, 8 seconds for the Italian's first career Giro stage victory. Robbie Mc-Ewen was second, followed by Alessandro Petacchi in third and world champion Paolo Bettini in fourth — all with the same time as Napolitano. Napolitano, who rides for Lampre-Fondital, broke away down the back straight and held on to edge McEwen and Petacchi in a tight sprint over the final 100m.
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