■ Soccer
Tuncay signs for Boro
Turkey international Tuncay has signed for Middlesbrough on a free transfer, the English Premiership club said on Friday. The 25-year-old Fenerbahce striker has agreed a four-year contract, pending a work permit. Boro chief executive Keith Lamb said: "We're delighted that Tuncay has committed his future to Middlesbrough. He is a major star in Turkey so it is a big coup for us to have signed a player of his quality on a free transfer."
■ Soccer
Refs blow whistle on racism
Referees will stop all matches in which fans shout racist abuse at players, starting with yesterday's European Under-21 Championship final, a senior UEFA official has confirmed. "We have decided to step up our actions and take a zero tolerance approach with any racist chants from fans," William Gaillard, special advisor to UEFA president Michel Platini said. "We have spoken to the referees and we have the support of the national associations, the clubs and the players' unions for this measure." Gaillard was speaking after the opening meeting of the governing body's executive committee in the Netherlands.
■ Soccer
Inmates may build stadiums
Poland is considering whether to use up to 20,000 prisoners to help build roads, stadiums and hotels for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament. Poland has an ambitious plan to replace crumbling communist era structures ahead of the tournament, but the booming building industry is short of labor because so many Poles have gone to Western Europe in search of better pay. Pawel Nasilowski, the deputy head of Poland's prison service, was quoted by the PAP news agency as saying the construction program could be used as a way of rehabilitating inmates.
■ Horse racing
Jockey gives horse the boot
A jockey who kicked his horse in the stomach was not notified if he will face any punishment following a hearing before Philadelphia Park track officials on Friday. Victor Molina had a 40-minute hearing to explain his side of the story. On Monday he lost his cool after the colt became agitated in the starting gate before a race and hurt him. Molina kicked the two-year-old colt Yes Yes Ohyes in the stomach before a race at Philadelphia Park. Molina said that when the feisty horse flipped in the starting gate, his head struck the jockey flush in the chest, causing it to go numb. Once Yes Yes Ohyes was scratched from the race, Molina removed the saddle and booted the colt's belly. Molina said the pain and threat of injury triggered his short fuse.
■ Soccer
Dowie told to pay Palace
A judge ordered Coventry City manager Iain Dowie to pay an initial ?150,000 (US$299,800) in legal costs within 42 days to former employers Crystal Palace on Friday, but the final bill could be much higher. Court insiders said Palace's costs could be more than double that figure and that Dowie must also pay his own legal fees as well as any damages if awarded, meaning the total could reach seven figures. The costs order came after the judge ruled last week that Dowie had deceived Palace who he left last year for Charlton Athletic. Palace will seek damages of up to ?1 million from Dowie at a future hearing. Dowie's lawyer Michael McParland said his client would seek to appeal the judgment.
■ Track and Field
Gay runs year's fastest 100m
Tyson Gay posted the fastest time in the world this year -- 9.84sec -- to win the men's 100m title on Friday at the US outdoor athletics championships. Gay's sizzling performance earned him a berth on the US team for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and confirmed his status as a serious contender for world gold after a string of scintillating performances this year. Torri Edwards won the women's 100m in 11.02 to book her ticket to Osaka, while Sanya Richards and Michael Tinsley posted world-leading times in preliminary races. Running into a headwind of 0.5m per second, Gay blasted quickly out of the blocks and left the rest of the field behind.
■ Baseball
Yankees call up Igawa
The New York Yankees recalled Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa from minor league team Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre on Friday. Igawa started Friday's game against the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees spent US$46 million to bring Igawa over from Japan in the offseason and expected him to fill a spot at the back of their rotation. He was largely a disappointment in his first stint, going 2-1 with a 7.63 ERA in six games, including five starts. He went 3-3 with a 2.65 ERA in six starts in the minors after tinkering with his delivery. The Yankees, meanwhile, optioned left-hander Sean Henn back to the minor leagues. Henn was 2-0 with a 4.66 ERA in 17 relief appearances.
■ Baseball
Tejada's streak ends
Baltimore Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada's consecutive games streak, the fifth-longest in Major League Baseball history, ended on Friday at 1,152 games. Tejada was placed on the disabled list with a non-displaced fracture of his left wrist before the start of Friday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 31-year-old Dominican Republic speedster was hurt when he was hit by a Doug Brocail pitch in Wednesday's game against the San Diego Padres. Tejada tried to play through the injury and started Thursday's game. Unable to swing, he bunted the second pitch from David Wells and was replaced by a pinch runner. Tejada's absence brought to an end the fifth-longest consecutive games streak in major league history.
■ Golf
Tiger to miss Buick Open
Two-time champion Tiger Woods will skip next week's Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Michigan, to stay at home with his wife and new child, tournament organizers said on Friday. Woods's Swedish wife Elin gave birth to their first child on Monday, less than 24 hours after the world No. 1 tied for second place in the US Open at Oakmont. "Tiger will spend time with his wife and newborn daughter next week," Buick golf marketing manager Larry Peck said in a statement. "We respect and support his decision. We look forward to having Tiger with us at future Buick Open tournaments and continuing the great partnership we have with the world's No. 1 golfer. We are very happy for him and his family." Buick Open champion in 2002 and last year, Woods will miss the event at Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club for the first time in six years. However, the birth of his daughter Sam Alexis a couple of weeks earlier than scheduled means the game's leading player is unlikely to miss next month's British Open at Carnoustie. Woods's next event is expected to be the AT&T National in Bethesda, Maryland, from July 5 to July 8.
agencies";
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