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Twenty20 game called off
England’s Twenty20 International against South Africa yesterday evening was called off following heavy rain at the Chester-le-Street ground in Durham. Authorities made the decision to call off England’s only competitive Twenty20 game before their Stanford match in Antigua on Nov. 1 after arriving at the ground on Tuesday to find the outfield saturated. It means England will be without any practice in this format before they fly out to the West Indies to compete in the £10 million (US$18.6 million) game against a Stanford All Stars team. The first of five one-day international matches between England and South African start at Headingley tomorrow.
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Cheerleaders dropped
Sri Lanka’s cricket authorities have withdrawn a squad of foreign cheerleaders from the ongoing one-day series against India after protests over the scantily clad women. Sri Lankan Cultural Minister Yapa Abeywardena said he had asked organizers to drop the squad of 24 eastern European women, despite their part in rousing the home team to an easy victory over India in the first match on Monday. “It is not in keeping with our tradition,” the minister told reporters. “I have asked the Cricket Board to drop this item immediately.” Several politicians in conservative Sri Lanka protested against the colorful addition to the matches, officials said, adding that they decided to respect requests to scrap the performances. The first two of the five matches are being played at the Dambulla International Stadium near the fifth century Sigiriya rock fortress, a World Heritage site known for its frescoes of bare-chested women.
■AMATEUR SPORT
Filthy club wins contest
A sports club in the town of Elmshorn, Northern Germany, has won the filthy changing room competition sponsored by a cleaning product manufacturer, officials from the club announced on Tuesday. The SV Lieth club stands to gain 20,000 euros (US$29,500) for renovations to its facilities after coming top in the contest organized jointly by a firm producing anti-fungal cleansing cream in partnership with German second division soccer club, FC Hamburg St Pauli. SV Lieth officials are delighted with the result. Their club, founded in 1934, was chosen on the basis of “mildew infested window panes and rusty showers dating from the pre-war period,” the competition Web site said. Clubs entering the competition were invited to post photos and videos of their sanitary installations on the Web site to be judged by the public.
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Blundering ref suspended
Bulgaria’s Football Union (BFU) has suspended referee Nikolay Yordanov for four matches after he made a series of blunders in a game that ended a 33-match unbeaten league run for champions CSKA Sofia. CSKA lost 3-1 to promoted Sliven in a tense affair on Friday that featured two red cards and three penalties. “We were convinced of the accuracy of the match delegate’s report after watching a video of the game and we decided to ban him,” BFU referees’ commission chairman Borislav Alexandrov told reporters on Tuesday. Referee bans are not uncommon in the Balkan country and Alexandrov had issued a pre-season warning that his commission would be even stricter with officials who made mistakes.
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