■CANOEING
Olympic champion dies
Hungary’s two-time Olympic canoe champion Gyorgy Kolonics died on Tuesday, most likely due to heart failure, during a practice session for the Beijing Games, the Hungarian Kayak-Canoe Federation said. Kolonics, 36, who won Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000 and bronze medals in 1996 and 2004, fell unconscious and could not be resuscitated, Etele Barath, the federation’s president told state news agency MTI. “There’s not a whole lot anybody can say for now, everybody who was there is in shock and can’t really tell us what happened,” Gabor Ganczer, a spokesman for the federation said. Kolonics was set to compete in Beijing, his fifth Olympics, in the 500m and 1,000m double events with Gyorgy Kozmann. In an international career spanning over 16 years, Kolonics won 15 world championship titles. He rose to national prominence in Hungary after taking the 500m doubles title in Atlanta with Csaba Horvath.
■SWIMMING
Singaporean looks to shine
A Singaporean swimmer is using NASA-style technology to help the city-state shine at the Olympics. Tao Li is undergoing bright light therapy to adjust her bodyclock to the morning race times at next month’s Games. Five times a week, China-born Tao is given a 15-minute burst of strong light to enable her to peak in the mornings for the finals, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday. The treatment, at a light intensity of 3,600 lux and roughly nine times as strong as a brightly lit office, will last three weeks. Li will be competing in the 100m backstroke as well as the 100m and 200m butterfly events. “This therapy can help Tao Li become more alert both physically and mentally,” Taisuke Kinugasa, a Singapore Sports School doctor, was quoted as saying. Singapore has not won an Olympic medal in nearly half a century. Their sole success came at the 1960 Rome Olympics when Tan Howe-Liang won a silver medal in weightlifting.
■WEIGHTLIFTING
Bribery claim earns ban
An Indian female weightlifter accused of bribing her way to the Beijing Olympics has been dropped and replaced by a teammate, an official said on Wednesday. Shailaja Pujari found herself embroiled in controversy last month when she was named in media reports as offering 500,000 rupees (US$12,500) to a senior official to get picked for the Games. Pujari denied the charge, as did the official, Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) secretary Baldev Raj Gulati. Pujari, who was due to compete in the 75kg category, was replaced by Monika Devi (69kg) in the lone weightlifting berth offered to India after fresh selection trials were ordered by the sports ministry. “Monika won by a clear-cut margin,” Gulati told reporters. “We took into account their performance over the last 12 months and Monika definitely had the better record of the two. Besides, Shailaja’s past history of doping went against her.”
■OPENING CEREMONY
Officials ready to target rain
China may attempt to artificially influence the weather if rain threatens the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games next month, a meteorological official said on Tuesday. “Although it is an emergency measure, the meteorological administration has made serious preparations on artificially influencing the weather,” administration official Chen Zhenlin said. Speaking at a press conference on weather forecasting, Chen said meteorologists had been carrying out experiments on artificial weather modification since 2003, particularly tests on reducing rainfall.
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