■TENNIS
Alicia Molik retires at 27
Australia’s Alicia Molik has retired from international tennis after a long run of injuries, including a debilitating inner-ear virus. Molik peaked at a No. 8 ranking after reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2005, but spent most of the rest of that season off the circuit because she was unable to balance owing to the ear virus. She won the bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics and, despite only limited time in competition, achieved her ambition of making the Beijing Olympics last month, but was knocked out in the first round. “It’s tiring and it’s very draining,” Molik told Melbourne’s Age newspaper on Friday. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking ... It took a while to get back and since then I’ve just struggled with a few more things that I never imagined would come along the way.”
■CYCLING
Chavanel takes Vuelta lead
Italian rider Paolo Bettini of Quick Step won the sixth stage of the Tour of Spain on Thursday, a 150.1km course from Ciudad Real to Toledo, while France’s Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis took the overall lead. Bettini came in ahead of Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert of Francaise des Jeux, while Spain’s Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d’Epargne was third in the sprint. It was the fourth Vuelta stage triumph of Bettini’s career. The 34-year-old said was an encouraging sing for his bid for a third successive win at the world championships in Itlay starting on Sept. 23. Chavanel, who climbed to second place in the overall standings after Wednesday’s individual time trial, collected 12 bonus seconds for winning both intermediate sprints which allowed him to take the leader’s golden jersey from US rider Levi Leipheimer. Leipheimer is now 10 seconds behind Chavanel in the overall standings, while Valverde is third at 26 seconds.
■SOCCER
Club punished over violet
FIFA has ordered Romania’s soccer authorities to deduct six league points from top-division club FC Timisoara for refusing to change its playing colors. Timisoara began the season wearing a violet-colored strip despite a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling last April ordering it to change. The CAS hearing was held to decide which of two rival Romanian clubs had the strongest claim to the historical identity — including the traditional playing colors — of the team associated with the Politehnica student team of Timisoara. The ruling asked FIFA to deduct the points from FC Timisoara if it failed to comply with its legal defeat.
■PARALYMPICS
Aussie not blind enough yet
An Australian athlete in Beijing for the Paralympics has been told she cannot compete because she is not blind enough, a team spokesman said yesterday. Jessica Gallagher, 22, had been due to contest five events, the discus, long jump, shot put and the 100m and 200m sprints, before her hopes were dashed after she failed a classification test in Beijing. Although her right eye met the criteria, her left eye was found to be too good. A spokesman for the Australian team in Beijing said Gallagher was aware before she traveled to China that she was borderline and could fail the classification test. “It hasn’t come as a shock to her,” he said, adding that within 12 months it was likely that the level of deterioration in her left eye would mean she would be eligible to compete. The International Paralympic Committee has allowed Gallagher to stay after the Australian team said her osteopathy skills would be useful, the spokesman said.
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