■ GOLF
Norman settles divorce
Two-time British Open golf champion Greg Norman and his ex-wife settled their divorce after 25 years of marriage, a contentious split marked by a dispute over money and assets. The winner of 87 professional victories and Laura Andrassy reached an agreement this month, and a judge completed the confidential settlement in Stuart, Florida on Friday. "Their marriage has been dissolved," Andrassy's lawyer, Russell Ferraro Jr, said on Monday. The 52-year-old Norman and tennis great Chris Evert, who also recently divorced, have been romantically linked. During a golf event in Australia last year, Norman said the two are "very, very close friends."
■ FORMULA ONE
Former boss on trial
The former head of Shanghai's multimillion-dollar Formula One auto racing track, Yu Zhifei (郁知非), is on trial for graft in Anhui Province, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Yu's trial on embezzlement charges, part of a wide crackdown on corruption in Shanghai, began on Monday at the Intermediate People's Court in Wuhu, the report said, citing unnamed court sources. Yu, a former city government official and general manager of the Shanghai International Circuit, was a key force behind Shanghai's racing circuit. He is accused of embezzling 1.05 million yuan (US$138,700), Xinhua said.
■ WRESTLING
Third gold for Iranian
Hamid Soryan Reihanpour of Iran won his third gold medal on Monday at the World Wrestling Championships in Azerbaijan. Reihanpour defeated 17-year-old Park Eun-chol of South Korea 1-1, 3-0, 4-0 in the 55kg category at Geidar Aliev sports arena. In the 60kg final, David Bedinadze of Georgia rallied to beat Makoto Sasamoto of Japan 0-3, 1-1, 4-0. Olympic champion Jang Ji-hyun of South Korea settled for bronze with a 1-1, 3-2, 7-0 victory over Yuri Dubinin of Belarus. Farid Mansurov of Azerbaijan defeated Steve Guenot of France to win gold in the 66kg division.
■ TENNIS
Golovin through in three
Top-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France needed three sets to eliminate American Lilia Osterloh 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 on Monday in the first round of the Slovenia Open. It was the second meeting between the two. In their only other encounter at the French Open in 2005, Golovin routed the 29-year-old from San Francisco 6-0, 6-2. Golovin reached a career-high ranking of 16 in May, a month after claiming her only tour title in Amelia Island, Florida. In another first-round match, fourth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik routed Slovenian compatriot Masha Zec Peskiric 6-0, 6-0 in 40 minutes.
■ BASEBALL
Dice-K the Teletubby
The Boston Red Sox didn't need an interpreter for this: With one quick wardrobe change, Daisuke Matsuzaka went from star pitcher to Teletubby. "I didn't think there was anything that could make me laugh last night. There was," manager Terry Francona said on Monday. Many teams use a late season trip as a chance to have some fun with the rookies, dressing them in costumes that must be worn on the flight to the next city. Dice-K had to don the outfit following Sunday night's 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. In addition to Matsuzaka, Boston's veterans dressed reliever Hideki Okajami and outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury as female pirates, pitcher Clay Buchholz as Minnie Mouse and outfielder Brandon Moss as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.
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