■ GOLF
Players enter Hall of Fame
Curtis Strange won consecutive US Open titles and Hubert Green major victories in the US Open and US PGA Championship. On Monday they were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. Inducted with them was Pak Se-ri, at 30 the youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Beyond her five majors and 24 career victories on the US LPGA Tour, Pak became a pioneer for young players from South Korea. Kel Nagle of Australia, whose 76 victories around the world included the 1960 British Open at St. Andrews, was elected through the veteran's category. Inducted posthumously were golf course architect Charles Blair Macdonald and three-time British Amateur champion Joe Carr, both through the lifetime achievement category.
■ Rugby Union
It's D-Day for Henry
New Zealand rugby officials will put the World Cup performance of All Black coach Graham Henry under the microscope today following the team's shock quarter-final exit from the World Cup. The New Zealand Rugby Union said its rugby committee would meet to conduct performance reviews of Henry and his assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. The committee will report tomorrow to the NZRU board, which will decide on the next step in appointing a coach. All Black coaches have traditionally paid the price for failure at the World Cup, although there was considerable public support for Henry to keep his job immediately after the All Blacks loss to France last month. Canterbury Crusaders coach Robbie Deans is the favorite to take over from Henry after announcing he is keen to coach the All Blacks.
■ Tennis
Hawk-Eye use increased
Players will have more chances to challenge line-calls using video replays at January's Australian Open in Melbourne, a move organizers hope will help tennis create a more consistent policy regarding Hawk-Eye technology. Next year's Australian Open will adopt a "three-plus-one challenge system" for Hawk-Eye, tournament director Craig Tiley said yesterday. "That means players get three incorrect challenges during a set and a fourth challenge if it goes into a tiebreaker," Tiley said. This year's tournament had a two-plus-one system "Under the new system it will be highly unlikely that players run out of challenges," Tiley said. Australian Open organizers will extend the use of Hawk-Eye to Vodafone Arena for next year's tournament, in addition to the main Rod Laver Arena.
■ Swimming
BOC wants investigation
The Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) requested a criminal investigation on the doping tests taken by swimmer Rebeca Gusmao during the Pan American Games in July. In a petition sent to Rio de Janeiro's Public Safety Department on Monday, BOC president Carlos Arthur Nuzman requested "an investigation into eventual crimes" on the procedures involving Gusmao's tests. Gusmao, a double gold medalist at the Pan Ams, was temporarily suspended last week by FINA for testing positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test on July 13. Then the Brazilian swimming confederation said there was evidence Gusmao's urine samples during the games were altered. The laboratory that conducted the tests said the samples they received appeared to belong to different donors.
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
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