■ ATHLETICS
Amputee could ‘pose risk’
South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who is hoping to run alongside able-bodied competitors at the Beijing Olympics, was branded a potential danger to other athletes on Monday. Pierre Weiss, the general secretary of the sport’s governing body, the IAAF, believes that if Pistorius, who runs on carbon fibre blades, takes part in the 4x400m relay, he could be a risk to other runners once they are bunched on the track. “The decision by CAS (the Court of Arbitration in Sport which allowed Pistorius to compete with able-bodied runners) applies to all athletics events. But if he runs in the pack, there’s a risk that he or another athlete will fall.”
■ BASEBALL
Hamilton steals show
With a dazzling display of power on Monday night, Josh Hamilton hit a record 28 homers in the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium before he was beaten out by Minnesota’s Justin Morneau in the finals. Morneau topped a tired Hamilton 5-3 in the last round, giving him the derby title. But the night belonged to Texas Ranger Hamilton. Back from drug and alcohol addiction that derailed his career, Hamilton broke Bobby Abreu’s mark for one round. Abreu hit 24 home runs in the first round in 2005 at Detroit’s Comerica Park. “I was lucky that we got reset,” Morneau said. “This was his show. He deserved to win it. That was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.”
■ SOCCER
Porto wins arbitration
Sport’s highest court says FC Porto will play in the Champions League after all.The Portuguese champion’s participation in Europe’s top club competition has been in doubt after its domestic league convicted Porto of attempting to bribe referees during the 2003-2004 season. UEFA rules state that clubs must have a clean record to play in the Champions League. But UEFA did a U-turn last month just days after banning Porto from the competition. UEFA said legal procedures in Portugal must be completed before it could act. Portuguese clubs Benfica and Guimaraes stood to gain from Porto’s ban. They went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday to restore the original UEFA punishment. But the court ruled in favor of Porto.
■ TENNIS
Nadal stardom goes galactic
Rafael Nadal’s dazzling career reached new heights this week when an asteroid was named after him following his epic Wimbledon victory. The request to name the lump of rock after the man who ended Roger Federer’s five-year reign as Wimbledon champion came from an astronomical observatory on Nadal’s home island of Majorca and was approved by the International Astronomical Union. Star gazers can find Nadal’s asteroid between Mars and Jupiter and the 22-year-old has himself been invited to the Majorcan observatory to view it himself. According to the web site of men’s governing body the ATP, the asteroid was discovered five years ago just before Nadal burst on to the scene. It is 4km in diameter and speeds through space at 20km per second. The Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca said it was a tribute to “one of the greatest tennis players of all time.” Nadal beat Federer in five sets in one of the greatest matches ever witnessed in this year’s final. The four-time French Open champion is now setting his sights on gold at next month’s Beijing Olympics.
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