■ FRANCES
Police seize fake balls
French customs officers seized nearly 1,000 counterfeit rugby balls that had been imported for the World Cup and stored in a customs warehouse at Strasbourg airport, the government said on Thursday. The balls were discovered last week during a regular inspection of a warehouse, where an import company had left some merchandise from India that was awaiting customs release authorization. Customs officials seized 998 imported rugby balls among the merchandise, marked with the official World Cup logo and saying "France 2007," the Budget Ministry said.
■ AUSTRALIA
Victory or nothing: Connolly
Australia departed for the Rugby World Cup on Thursday, saying anything less than victory in the sixth world tournament would be considered a failure. The Wallabies left Sydney for Portugal, where they will complete their preparation for the Cup which begins in France on Sept. 8. They are drawn to meet tournament favorites New Zealand in the semi-finals. "I guess everyone that goes to the World Cup, if you're in the top seven or eight countries in the world, the goal is to win the World Cup, so anything short of that is a failure I guess," coach John Connolly said. He said a training camp on foreign soil would allow the Wallabies to complete their tournament preparation away from the scrutiny they would face at home.
■ SOUTH AFRICA
Ndungane goes home
Winger Akona Ndungane was returning to South Africa from Edinburgh, Scotland, on Thursday for tests on a chest injury while his teammates were preparing to complete their rugby World Cup buildup against Scotland. Ndungane injured a chest muscle and came off half an hour into South Africa's 18-3 win over Irish province Connacht on Wednesday. He was heading to Cape Town for more conclusive tests, with his World Cup participation in doubt. He joins center Jean de Villiers back home recuperating after de Villiers injured his ribs in the win over Namibia last week. Springboks captain John Smit remained unavailable while recovering from a hamstring injury.
■ WALES
Jenkins makes three changes
Wales made three changes to its team to play France in its final World Cup warmup tomorrow. Shane Williams returns from elbow surgery and replaces Dafydd James on the left wing in the team announced on Thursday by coach Gareth Jenkins. Jamie Robinson is at outside center in place of Tom Shanklin, and Chris Horsman will start at tight-head prop instead of Adam Jones. Shanklin is rested after being injured in Wales' 27-20 win over Argentina last Saturday. Jones has an ankle injury, but both are expected to be available for Wales' opening World Cup game with Canada in Nantes, France, on Sept. 9. Williams missed the Argentina game and Wales' record 62-5 loss to England on Aug. 4.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Williams inks two-year deal
Lock Ali Williams has signed a new two-year contract with the New Zealand Rugby Union, stemming a flow of New Zealand's top players to Europe after next month's Rugby World Cup. Williams, 26, a veteran of 42 tests, will remain in New Zealand at least until the end of the 2009 season, keeping intact one key part of the current All Blacks forward pack. Prop Carl Hayman, hooker Anton Oliver and lock Chris Jack have already signed contracts to play in Europe from next season.
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