■ ATHLETICS
Probe outlines Jones' doping
Ledgers gathered in the BALCO steroid investigation outline the detailed doping program of disgraced sprinter Marion Jones, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Saturday. The newspaper cited court documents filed by prosecutors in New York in support of their case against Jones, who has pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about her illicit drug use. The ledgers and calendars were seized in a 2003 raid of BALCO -- the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative supplement business fingered as the source of designer steroid THG. The documents detail the doping regimen Jones followed before the Sydney Olympics, where her five medals included three golds. The International Olympic Committee stripped Jones of those medals on Dec. 13, after Jones pleaded guilty in October to making two counts of false statements to federal agents.
■ CRICKET
Racists face life bans
Fans at Australia's first Test against India could be banned from the Melbourne Cricket Ground for life if they are found to be involved in racial taunting of players and other fans, Cricket Australia (CA) said yesterday. Anyone caught doing so by undercover surveillance officers would be ejected from the ground and face further action, a CA spokesman told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper. "Our message to any mindless people who are thinking of going down that path is we won't tolerate that sort of thing," CA spokesman Peter Young told the newspaper.
■ CRICKET
England slip down rankings
England might have scrambled to a rain-affected draw against Sri Lanka on Saturday, but the result could not prevent them from slipping three places to fifth position in the ICC Test Championship table. When time was called on the match in Galle, England had battled to 251-6 thanks to 118 from Alistair Cook. But despite failing to force victory in the match, Sri Lanka took the series 1-0 and moved up to third place in the rankings. South Africa replaced England in second place ahead of their Test series against the West Indies, which starts in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. India stayed fourth but will be hoping to improve on that position when their four-Test series with Australia also gets going on Wednesday in Melbourne.
■ SNOWBOARDING
Gimpl wins Big Air cup
Stefan Gimpl won a Big Air snowboarding World Cup event on Saturday, with overall standings leader Janne Korpi coming second. Matevz Petek, last year's winner from Slovenia, was third. "It was a great evening and a great Christmas present for me and my family," Gimpl said. The 28-year-old Austrian is second in the Big Air standings, leading Gimpl 2,200 to 2,040. Korpi, from Finland, also leads the overall standings with 3,400 points, ahead of Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto, who has 2,950.
■ SOCCER
Jena fire coach after 96 days
In September, he was heralded as the rescuer of former East German champions Carl Zeiss Jena, but now Lithuanian coach Valdas Ivanauskas has been sacked just 96 days into the job. With Jena second from bottom of the Bundesliga's second division, Ivanauskas has been shown the door and replaced by unknown Henning Buerger as head coach. "We had a review of the first half of the season on Monday and decided to part company with Ivanauskas," Jena chairman Rainer Zipfel told German sports agency SID.
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