■ TENNIS
Garrigues advances at Fez
No. 1-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues advanced to the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fez, Morocco, beating Bulgaria’s Sesil Karatantcheva 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1. Ranked 34th by the WTA Tour, Medina Garrigues is seeking her first title since last May when she won the Ligue d’Alsace de Tennis on clay in Strasbourg, France. In other second-round play, the field lost three seeds. Greta Arn of Hungary beat No. 3 seed Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-4, 7-5; eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia fell to Ukrainian Olga Savchuk 7-6 (4), 6-4, and No. 5 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland was defeated by Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 7-5.
■ BASEBALL
Giants’ catcher suspended
Catcher Eliezer Alfonzo of the San Francisco Giants franchise was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, Major League Baseball said on Wednesday. Alfonzo, a member of the Giants’ 40-man roster, is currently playing for the Giants Class AAA Fresno minor league affiliate. His suspension was to start today. “The Giants were disappointed to learn that one of our players, Eliezer Alfonzo, has failed a test for a performance enhancing drug,” the Giants said in a statement. “Our organization fully supports Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program ... We will continue to support and counsel Eliezer during his suspension.”
■ BASEBALL
Strawberry writing memoir
Former baseball player Darryl Strawberry, whose achievements on the field were often overshadowed by his struggles with cancer and substance abuse, is writing a memoir, Straw, that will come out next year, publisher Ecco announced on Wednesday. According to Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, Strawberry’s book “details his life growing up in the Crenshaw part of Los Angeles, his rise to baseball superstardom as a New York Met, Los Angeles Dodger, and New York Yankee, the high life and low life, his brushes with the law, his triumphant battle over cancer, his religious awakening, and his marriage to the love of his life.”
■ ICE HOCKEY
Halifax Worlds begins
Russia and the Czech Republic will aim to topple defending champion Canada at the World Hockey Championships, but establishing Olympic credibility is also high on everyone’s wish list. Many of the teams competing at the Halifax Worlds, which gets under way today, will also use this as a testing ground for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. And since this is the first time since 1962 the Worlds have been held in North America, that means some adjustments for the European teams. They not only is there added travel, but they must also get used to the different size ice surface in North America.
■ TENNIS
Mathieu advances at ATP
Top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu safely made it into the quarter-finals at the ATP tournament in Munich, Germany, on a day of few surprises as former world No. 1 Marat Safin made the second round. With a host of top names pulling out of the event, including local heros Tommy Haas and Philipp Kohlschreiber, the clay-court event has been shorn of big names. Mathieu, ranked 19th in the world, had a comfortable straight sets win over Italian qualifier Gianluca Naso 6-3, 6-4 in the second round and will face eighth seed Marin Cilic in the last eight. The Croat beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner.
■ SOCCER
Beitar to replay Herzliya
Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem, infamous for their ultra-nationalist fans, won a reprieve on Wednesday from a crucial league match forfeit this month just four minutes from time. The Israeli Football Association ordered that the club, supported by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, be allowed to replay against Maccabi Herzliya, after their game was called off when thousands of fans invaded the pitch on April 13 in premature celebration of their team winning the league. The replay is set for May 20. Beitar, with a 12 point lead over second-placed Maccabi Netanya, need one more win to clinch their second consecutive championship.
■ SOCCER
FC AK chairman banned
The chairman of a South African first division club has been banned for 30 years and his club relegated to the second division after both were found guilty of bribery and corruption. FC AK won the inland stream of the South African first division and were scheduled to play-off for a place in the Premier League against the winners of the coastal stream, Maritzburg United, later this month. FC AK owner and chairman Aziz Kara was charged by the league of having attempted to bribe the goalkeeper of an opposing club, who had previously played for FC AK. In a statement released late on Wednesday, the Premier League said both Kara and the club had been found guilty of charges of bribery and corruption. They said they had taken the seriousness of the offense, as well as the fact that both the club and the chairman are first offenders and jointly employ over 250 people into consideration when reaching a verdict.
■ CYCLING
French get tough on doping
The French government on Wednesday moved to toughen anti-doping legislation ahead of this summer’s Tour de France. Members of parliament adopted a new law that penalizes the possession and trafficking of doping products in sport with prison sentences and fines. Under the new measures offenders will receive up to five years in jail and a 75,000 euro (US$117,000) fine when it relates to drug trafficking, French Minister for Sport Bernard Laporte said. The penalty will be increased to seven years in prison and a fine of 150,000 euros when the offense is committed as part of an organized group or against a minor. The sentence will comprise a year in prison and a 3,750 euro fine when the offense is committed by a sports person for his personal use, Laporte said.
■ RUGBY UNION
Nucifora to leave the Blues
Australian David Nucifora will step down as coach of Super 14 team the Auckland Blues at the end of the season, the New Zealand Rugby Union said yesterday. Nucifora, head coach of the Blues for three years, has been linked with the role of managing the Australian Rugby Union’s high performance unit. “With children about to start high school, our decision had to come down to what is best for our family,” Nucifora said in a statement.
■ SNOOKER
O’Sullivan knocks out Liang
Tournament favorite Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Chinese qualifier Liang Wenbo 13-7 to book a place in the semi-finals of the world championship. He now faces Stephen Hendry, after the Scot beat Ryan Day 13-7. O’Sullivan, who started the final session with an 11-5 lead over Liang, never looked like loosening his grip and completed the victory with a 79 break.
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