■ Swimming
Coach cleared of sex abuse
Australian Olympic coach Mark Thompson was found not guilty yesterday of sexually abusing a teenager more than eight years ago. The boy claimed Thompson, coach of Olympian Brooke Hanson, had sexually assaulted him when he was 13 years old. Thompson was charged with the offenses in October 2005. A Victorian County Court jury found Thompson not guilty of 12 charges relating to the claims. Hanson, who won a relay gold and an individual silver medal at the Athens Olympics, testified on Thompson's behalf.
■ Golf
Tours closer to mending ties
The Asian and European Tours are closer to mending ties after a bitter dispute over two tournaments but major differences remain, a leading Asian official said. Gerry Norquist, the Asian Tour's senior vice president, said the two bodies are working towards an agreement over events in India and South Korea on next year's European Tour calendar. Asian Tour officials had accused their rivals of colonialism after the Europeans sanctioned events on local turf without approval from the regional governing body.
■ Cricket
Bangladesh search for coach
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have asked Australia's John Harmer to attend an interview as the country resumes its search for a new coach. The 65-year-old was one of the three candidates shortlisted by the BCB last month after Sri Lanka-born Australian Dav Whatmore declined to renew his contract two months earlier. "Harmer will come to Dhaka shortly to make a presentation before us," BCB official Gazi Ashraf Hossain said yesterday. The other two names on the shortlist are Australian Jamie Siddons and Zimbabwean Dave Houghton.
■ Football
Vick awaits fate
Michael Vick must wait to find out the full impact his legal troubles after he was expected to formally enter his guilty plea to a US federal dogfighting conspiracy charge yesterday. In his written plea filed in federal court in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday, Vick admitted helping kill six to eight pit bulls and supplying money for gambling on the fights. He said he did not personally place any bets or share in any winnings. The plea agreement calls for a sentencing range of 12 to 18 months. But US District Judge Henry Hudson is not bound by any recommendation or federal sentencing guidelines and could sentence Vick to as much as five years in prison.
■ Golf
Fisher wins Dutch Open
England's Ross Fisher claimed his first European Tour title in the Dutch Open on Sunday. Fisher went into the final round with a share of the lead on nine under with fellow Briton David Carter and New Zealand's Steve Alker. But a serious wobble saw a four shot cushion evaporate in the closing stages when he bogeyed the 16th and three-putted the 17th only to steady his nerves with a birdie from 10 feet on the last. That gave him a fourth round score of 67 for a 268 total. But before Fisher could savour the moment he was driven off to the 12th where officials where investigating a possible illegal removal of a bramble from closer to his ball before playing his second shot to the par five. Two referees accompanied Fisher as they tried to recreate the incident and studied television footage. But after a lengthy delay Fisher was duly confirmed the winner.
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