■SOCCER
Garlic shots proving costly
Japan striker Kazuki Ganaha is counting the cost of his bid to overturn a ban imposed for taking intravenous garlic infusions. The 27-year-old was suspended for six games last year for breaking the J-League’s anti-doping rules after coming down with influenza. Ganaha appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who heard his case at a two-day hearing in Tokyo this week. CAS are expected to rule within the next few weeks but Ganaha’s legal costs are mounting and he has already paid out around US$100,000. “I don’t have any regrets,” Ganaha said. “The slate needs to be wiped clean. I’m not attempting to betray soccer. I’m doing this so other players don’t end up in the same position.” Although Ganaha did not take a banned substance, intravenous treatment is banned by Japan’s domestic league in line with world soccer’s governing body FIFA.
■SOCCER
Leeds points bid fails
English League One side Leeds United have failed in their bid to claim back the 15 points they were deducted by the Football League after an independent tribunal on Thursday upheld the penalty. Leeds officials failed to convince during the three-day hearing that the League acted unfairly when docking the points as punishment for the club’s handling of its bankruptcy last year. The hearing’s decision to rule in the League’s favor means Leeds stay in sixth place in League One and they must now hope to secure promotion via a play-off place. If Leeds had been handed back all 15 points they would have jumped from sixth to second, ousting Doncaster from an automatic promotion spot, while Swansea would not have been assured of the League One title.
■RUGBY UNION
Matfield set for Bulls return
Springbok lock Victor Matfield is to return to play for his former side the Northern Bulls this summer at the end of a one-year contract with French second division side Toulon. Widely regarded as the best second-rower in world rugby, Matfield has agreed to a new three-year contract, the South African side announced on its Web site. Matfield played for the Bulls for four years before trying his hand in France with the ambitious Toulon side, but injury has badly hampered his season.
■OLYMPICS
World champ slams protests
Two-times heptathlon and long jump world champion Eunice Barber of France says she is against any form of protest at this year’s Beijing Olympics. Barber said she disagreed with talk of a boycott of the opening ceremony and French athletes’ use of a badge during last month’s Olympic torch relay to show concern for China’s human rights record. “I am against the boycott, I am against the badge,” Barber told sports daily L’Equipe yesterday. “Boycott is not for the athletes. What we have to boycott are the people signing million of euros in business contracts.” She said athletes wanting to campaign about human rights during the Games were “hypocrites.” “France has no lesson to give to China. There are so many Blacks and Arabs who get burnt up in France and the so-called humanitarians don’t stand up [for them],” she said. “Do you understand these people who call themselves humanitarians and who are violent with those carrying the torch?” she said, referring to Chinese paralympic fencer Jin Jing, who had to shield the Olympic torch from protesters in Paris.
■BASKETBALL
Rodman arrested again
Former professional basketball player Dennis Rodman has been arrested for hitting a woman at a Los Angeles hotel, police said on Thursday. Rodman, 46, a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, was booked on suspicion of domestic violence. “During the investigation, police found that Rodman struck a woman who suffered injuries to her arms,” Sara Fayden of the Los Angeles Police Department said. Rodman was released early on Thursday morning. Bail was set at US$50,000, and his arraignment was scheduled for May 22. Rodman has had a difficult time coping with a recent divorce, and suffered from substance abuse, his manager Steve Simon told the Los Angeles Times.
■ATHLETICS
Sprinter faces heroin charge
Disgraced sprinter Tim Montgomery has been indicted on heroin distribution charges, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported on Thursday. The newspaper reported that Montgomery, 33, was arrested on Wednesday on a sealed indictment that charged him with conspiracy to distribute the drug. The report said Montgomery was accused in the indictment of dealing more than 100g of heroin between last year and this year in Virginia. The newspaper said that federal authorities didn’t publicly announce the arrest, but that Montgomery was in court in Norfolk, Virginia, on Wednesday and a magistrate judge ordered him jailed pending a bond hearing on Monday.
■FOOTBALL
‘Pacman’ plot thickens
The tale of Adam “Pacman” Jones took another twist on Thursday as a man charged in a triple shooting at a Las Vegas strip club said the NFL player framed him. Arvin Kenti Edwards, who was arrested on April 18 and charged with three counts of attempted murder, told WTVF-TV that Jones ordered the shooting outside the Minxx Gentlemen’s Club that left a man paralyzed. Edwards, 29, is being held on US$1 million bail in Yakima, Washington, while awaiting extradition to Nevada. On the heels of that arrest, Las Vegas police charged that Jones — then with the Tennessee Titans and now with the Dallas Cowboys — paid US$15,000 in “extortion” money to Edwards, who had allegedly threatened the player and his family. Edwards on Thursday said those allegations were false. “I definitely didn’t receive no US$15,000,” Edwards said. “I definitely didn’t extort nobody out of no money.” Edwards said that instead Jones “paid somebody to shoot that club up.”
■BASKETBALL
Durant Rookie of the Year
SuperSonics guard Kevin Durant was announced as the NBA Rookie of the Year on Thursday, becoming the first Seattle player to win the award — and perhaps the last. Durant, the US college player of the year at Texas University and the second selection in last year’s National Basketball Association draft, averaged 20.3 points per game. Durant has been a bright spot during a dismal basketball season in Seattle. The Sonics won only 20 games, and the owner is scheduled to move the team to Oklahoma City for next season. Durant averaged 21.8 points and shot nearly 53 percent in March. He capped his rookie season by averaging 24.3 points in his final eight games. Durant scored the winning points in what could have been the Sonics’ final home game in Seattle, a 99-95 win over Dallas, then followed with a career-best 42 points in the Sonics’ season finale against Golden State.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care