■ Cricket
Singh faces drug charges
Former test cricketer Maninder Singh was to appear in a New Delhi court yesterday after he was arrested in his home for allegedly possessing 1.5 grams of cocaine. Local club cricketer Sayyam Siddique, who was with Singh when police raided his New Delhi apartment on Tuesday, was arrested for carrying 100 grams of contraband charas [hashish], police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said yesterday. Both have been arrested under the 1985 Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, Bhagat said. Police are investigating whether Singh kept the cocaine for personal use or was involved in the drug trade.
■ Tennis
Davydenko eyes Austria
Nikolay Davydenko has applied for Austrian citizenship. Davydenko, who is ranked fourth, is applying for dual nationality and intends to keep his Russian passport. "The training facilities in Austria are much better than in Russia," the 25-year-old Davydenko said on Tuesday. "And an Austrian passport would make traveling a lot easier for us, avoiding the visa requirements for Russian citizens." It was unclear how long it would take for the Austrian authorities to decide on Davydenko's application. Davydenko would have to wait three years after gaining citizenship to be allowed to play in Austria's Davis Cup team. He would also be able to take part for Austria in the 2008 Olympics -- but would need permission from the Russian Olympic Committee to do so. Davydenko spent part of his youth in Germany and applied for German citizenship in 2000, but said he "never got a reaction" from the German tennis federation, which he had asked to help him.
■ NFL
Judge restrains Kircus
A judge issued a restraining order against Broncos receiver David Kircus in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault at a weekend party. Kircus, who resumed his NFL career last season after spending a year away from football working in a fast-food shop, is free on US$6,000 bail. If convicted, he could be sentenced to two to six years in prison. The restraining order bars Kircus from drinking or possessing alcohol. Sheriff's investigators said Kircus got into an argument when he was asked to leave a party early Sunday, hit a man and broke bones in his face. The man was treated at a hospital. The extent of his injuries were not available, and his name was not released. Kircus is a backup receiver and return specialist who joined the team last season. He had nine receptions for a team-leading 20.8 yards per catch and returned six punts for a 14.3-yard average last season.
■ Taekwondo
Iraqi official found dead
The vice president of the taekwondo union was found dead south of Baghdad on Tuesday after being kidnapped on his way home from his sister's wake, the Iraqi Olympic Committee said. Walid Mohammed Abdullah, 43, was abducted and killed near the town of Mahmudiyah in the same Sunni insurgent stronghold where three US soldiers went missing 11 days ago after a pre-dawn raid that killed five of their comrades. "We regret these sorts of incidents which befall athletes at a time when they are struggling to represent the country and serve Iraqi athletics," committee president Bashar Mustafa said. "These acts reflect this dangerous period that Iraqi athletes are confronted with at the present time," he added.
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