■ BASEBALL
Massive demand for tickets
The Colorado Rockies had to suspend sales of World Series tickets on Monday after massive demand caused the Major League Baseball team's Web site to crash. "It has been an extremely frustrating morning for our fans and the entire Rockies' organization," Rockies president Keli McGregor said. "We are working diligently with Major League Baseball and Paciolan to resolve the issues impacting online ticket sales for the 2007 World Series." Online ticket vendor Paciolan experienced an outage after receiving more than 8.5 million hits on the Rockies Web site. Fewer than than 500 tickets had been sold before the site crashed. The Rockies will be making their World Series debut against the Boston Red Sox with Game One in Boston today.
■ CYCLING
Iban Mayo cleared
The Spanish cycling federation on Monday cleared Spanish cyclist Iban Mayo, who tested positive for doping during this year's Tour de France, after a second test proved negative, his lawyer and the federation said. The federation informed Mayo "that the B sample had come out negative and for this reason it had ended" its inquiry, Mayo's lawyer Jose Rodriguez said. The cycling federation confirmed the news and said there had been a mistake with the first sample. Mayo, a specialist climber, tested positive for blood-booster EPO during the Tour on July 24 and a test on his B sample was carried out in August. He would have been suspended for a minimum of two years if his B sample had proved positive.
■ Soccer
Kiwis withdraw hosting bid
New Zealand was yesterday forced to withdraw its bid to host the Oceania men's soccer qualifying tournament for next year's Beijing Games because it could not guarantee visas for all players. The decision was an "unfortunate consequence" of the postponement of the World Cup qualifier between New Zealand and Fiji earlier this month, New Zealand Football (NZF) chief executive Graham Seatter said. Seatter said NZF could not guarantee there would be no repeat of the visa storm in which Fiji's goalkeeper was denied entry into New Zealand because the government said his father-in-law is in the Fiji military. Wellington placed a ban on travel to New Zealand by members of the Fijian military and their families following last December's coup which toppled the elected government in the South Pacific nation. The refusal to allow goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau into the country prompted FIFA to postpone the match 24 hours before the kickoff.
■ CRICKET
Sri Lanka determined
Sri Lanka flew out to Australia yesterday determined to win their first Test Down Under after an improved performance in recent away matches. "We have played consistently good cricket away from home in the recent times, so we want to maintain that," captain Mahela Jayewardene said before the team's departure. "Obviously we want to beat Australia. We have to play as a team and put up our best effort to try and win the series." Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Brisbane and Hobart next month, before returning to Australia in February for a limited-overs tri-series also featuring India. Sri Lanka have lost six Tests and drawn two in Australia since their maiden appearance there in 1988.
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