■ Soccer
Aussie to referee Cup final
Australian Mark Shield will referee the Asian Cup final between Iraq and Saudi Arabia today, the Asian Football Confederation said. Shield, 33, impressed tournament officials with his work in four games at the Asian Cup. Shield has officiated at two World Cup tournaments, debuting at the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan with a match between Belgium and Tunisia. At last year's World Cup in Germany, he refereed group matches between Iran and Angola and Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, Shield was named Australian referee of the year for the second time.
■ Football
Nike suspends Vick contract
Nike suspended its contract with Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick on Friday and will pull goods with his name off the shelves at stores the company owns. In a statement, the company said it had not terminated the contract, as animal-rights activists had urged the company to do after Vick was accused of federal dogfighting charges. "Nike has suspended Michael Vick's contract without pay, and will not sell any more Michael Vick product at Nike-owned retail at this time," the company said. Vick pleaded not guilty on Thursday to participating in a dogfighting ring that allegedly executed underperforming pit bulls.
■ Boxing
Johnson knocks out Moore
Former IBF light-heavyweight champion Glen Johnson of Jamaica knocked out US boxer Fred Moore in the fifth round on Friday. Johnson dropped Moore with a right-left combination to the head late in the round. With a dazed Moore on the canvas, referee Frank Gentile didn't bother to count and ended the bout at 2:45. "I took my time and waited for the opportunity," Johnson said. Before Johnson (46-11-2, 31 KOs) landed his two-punch combination, he hurt Moore near the ropes with strong power punching. Bleeding from the nose, Moore (30-7) couldn't avoid Johnson's attack while he was pinned on the ropes. Johnson, now living in Miami, was the busier fighter from the opening round. He scored with rights to the head and lefts to the body.
■ Athletics
Leak effects dismissed
Federal prosecutors say media leaks did not compromise the deliberations of the grand jury that indicted elite track coach Trevor Graham on perjury charges. Graham's lawyers have asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing widely published reports by The Associated Press saying Graham "was expected to be indicted" were grounds for dismissal. The reports, issued a day before the indictment was made public, cited two Justice Department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. In court papers filed in federal court on Friday, the US attorney's office said the leaks did not influence the grand jury.
■ Rugby
Pichot to lead Cup team
Scrumhalf Agustin Pichot will lead Argentina in his fourth World Cup after being named as captain in the 30-man squad announced by coach Marcelo Loffreda on Friday for the tournament starting in September in France. Pichot, who turns 33 next month, is the sole surviving Puma from the 1995 tournament in South Africa where he was a reserve. Other core members of Loffreda's squad, including back Felipe Contepomi and forwards Gonzalo Longo, Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Mario Ledesma and Omar Hasan, have two World Cups under their belts.
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