■ GOLF
Leonard’s identity stolen
A 30-year-old Texas man has been indicted on identity theft charges for allegedly opening credit cards and a cellphone account in the name of former British Open champion Justin Leonard, a prosecutor said on Thursday. Joel Keith Bridger, a convicted felon with a history of bail jumping, drug use and credit card fraud, was indicted by a Tarrant County grand jury last week on a charge of fraudulent use or possession of identifying information. Bridger’s alleged scam last year unraveled only by happenstance, said David Lobingier, an assistant district attorney in the economic crimes unit. He went to a post office to pick up mail in Leonard’s name and flashed his ID, which had Leonard’s information but Bridger’s photo, Lobingier said. “The clerk said, ‘I know the Leonard family, and you’re not Justin Leonard,’” Lobingier said.
■ BASEBALL
Wife of Bonds trainer probed
Federal officials have told the wife of Barry Bonds’ personal trainer that she is a target of a criminal investigation, according to a newspaper report. The New York Times, citing an unidentified lawyer briefed on the issue, reported that Greg Anderson’s wife received a “target letter” from federal prosecutors in November, shortly after Bonds was indicted on perjury charges for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. The newspaper identified Anderson’s wife as Nicole Gestas. She couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday. She is reportedly under investigation for conspiracy and the letter was signed by assistant US attorney Matt Parrella, the government’s chief doping prosecutor. Legal experts said the letter is an indication that prosecutors are attempting to ratchet up the pressure on Anderson to cooperate with the government’s investigation of Bonds, who is scheduled to stand trial in March.
■ BASEBALL
Mariners replace manager
John McLaren was fired on Thursday as manager of the Seattle Mariners, who began the season with playoff aspirations and now have the worst record in Major League Baseball. Bench coach Jim Riggleman will run the Mariners for the rest of their lost season. The Mariners made the announcement three days after general manager Bill Bavasi was fired. McLaren was the second manager in the majors to be fired this season — the New York Mets dismissed Willie Randolph this week. Seattle is 25-47 and 17.5 games behind the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West division.
■ GYMNASTICS
Artemev leads US trials
Alexander Artemev was the all-around leader after the first day of the US Olympic men’s gymnastics trials in Philadelphia on Thursday with national champion David Sender sidelined by a sprained ankle. Artemev, boosted by his first-place performance on the pommel horse, scored 90.650, followed closely by Jonathan Horton at 90.550 and Raj Bhavsar at 90.500. The final day of the men’s competition is today. Sender injured his right ankle while warming up for the high bar during practice on Wednesday. Also watching the trials from the Wachovia Center seats was 2004 Olympic all-around champion Paul Hamm, who is recovering from a broken hand. Top scorers were Joseph Hagerty on floor exercise (15.400) and horizontal bar (15.550), Artemev on pommel horse (15.650), Kevin Tan on rings (16.550), Sean Golden on vault (16.200) and Justin Spring on parallel bars (15.700).
■ RUGBY UNION
McKenzie moves to France
Former New South Wales Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie has joined Stade Francais, the French club said. McKenzie was told by the Waratahs in April his contract would not be renewed at the end of the Super 14 after a run of poor performances. The Waratahs, however, turned around their season and made the final, losing 20-12 to the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch last month. McKenzie, a World Cup winner with Australia in 1991, had been widely expected by local media to join Stade Francais after traveling to meet the club during the Super 14. Former Stade Francais coach Fabien Galthie also said in April he was leaving the club, intensifying the media speculation in Australia on McKenzie taking the job at the end of the season. He had also been linked with the vacant head coaching positions at New Zealand’s Auckland Blues and Canterbury Crusaders.
■ CRICKET
Ponting in Trophy warning
Australia cricket captain Ricky Ponting said his side and others still had security concerns about Pakistan and were undecided about competing in the Champions Trophy, newspapers reported yesterday. Ponting said he did not yet know if Australia would travel to Pakistan for the September tournament and that some players might opt out even if the trip went ahead. The skipper’s comments raise the prospect of the year’s most prestigious one-day international tournament being tarnished by withdrawals. “We don’t know if we’re going. And if we do go, we don’t know if individuals are going to pull out,” Ponting said. “It just won’t be Australian players. There will be a few other teams who will be thinking long and hard if the tour does go ahead. I’m sure some of the England players will have some concerns, I’m sure a lot of the New Zealand players who have been confronted with this stuff before, in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, will have some pretty serious concerns.”
■ CYCLING
Kirchen surges into lead
Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen, riding for the High Road team, surged into the overall lead of the Tour of Switzerland after keeping his cool to win the sixth stage on Thursday. Kirchen showed his strength and composure in the tough Verbier climb, taking control of the race with 200m left to beat German Andreas Kloden (Astana) and the young Czech Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas). The 29-year-old Kirchen, who notched up his 15th professional victory, now leads the standings, 27 seconds in front of Kreuziger and 33 seconds ahead of Spain’s Igor Anton (Euskaltel). Kirchen is proving his versatility in the Tour — coming second in last Saturday’s first stage with a good sprint finish, while placing third in Sunday’s high-altitude climb.
■ SOCCER
Ronaldinho in Olympics plea
Barcelona striker Ronaldinho said on Thursday that he wanted to play for Brazil at the Beijing Olympic Games in August. “I miss the team and I hope to return as quickly as possible,” the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner told the Folha news agency. Ronaldinho said he had fully recovered from the thigh injury that has kept him out of action since March, adding: “I really want to take part in the Olympic Games.” He also said that he had been working hard on his fitness levels, training everyday during his holidays in southern Brazil.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier