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Detroit edge Phoenix
Plenette Pierson and Kara Braxton combined for 45 points and 22 rebounds to lead the defending champion Detroit Shock to a 108-100 win on Wednesday over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 1 of the WNBA finals in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Detroit took the lead in the best-of-five series despite the absence of All-Star Cheryl Ford, who sat out with a knee injury. It was the highest-scoring game in the history of the finals. "Obviously, a good win for us a man down. That was a magnificent contribution from our bench," said Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer, who found out Wednesday morning that Ford wouldn't be able to go. He said he hopes to have Ford available for Game 2.
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Referees to use TV replay
National Baketball Association (NBA) referees will be able to use television replay to review altercations and some flagrant fouls starting this season. The NBA Board of Governors voted last week to approve the changes recommended by the league's Competition Committee. Officials will be allowed to use replay on the more severe type of flagrant foul, known as the penalty 2. Because a flagrant-2 results in an ejection, the committee ruled that reviewing such infractions was appropriate. Referees also will be able to use replay after an altercation to ensure that no punches or other unsportsmanlike actions are missed in determining penalties.
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Browns cornerback arrested
Cleveland Browns cornerback Leigh Bodden drove a sport utility vehicle in reverse down a one-way street outside an airport, became verbally abusive with police and was arrested on Wednesday. Bodden, 25, refused to stop the vehicle when initially approached by an officer at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, police Lieutenant Thomas Stacho said. Bodden eventually pulled the vehicle to a curb, got out and walked toward an airport entrance, Stacho said. "He indicated he was there to pick up his people, whoever his people are," Stacho said. Bodden became verbally abusive with the officer, who called for police backup, Stacho said.
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Yao Ming defends coach
Yao Ming (姚明) says China coach Jonas Kazlauskas should remain in charge through the Beijing Olympics, telling Chinese media to cut the Lithuanian some slack. The Houston Rockets star called Kazlauskas a unifying force on the team and said Chinese sports reporters blow hot and cold over the team's success. "He is a good coach," Yao was quoted as saying in the China Daily newspaper yesterday. Kazlauskas has come under fire in the Chinese media over a string of recent losses to lower-ranked teams.
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Reed charged over reefer
Houston Rockets swingman Justin Reed was released on Wednesday after being arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Reed was arrested on Tuesday night in Jackson, Mississippi. He was released from the Hinds County jail early on Wednesday, Ken Magee of the Hinds County Sheriff's Department said. Reed was charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, which carries a fine from US$100 to US$250. No date has been set for his appearance in Hinds County court.
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