■BOXING
Ex-rugby bad boy wins title
Former rugby league international bad boy John Hopoate won the Australian heavyweight title on Wednesday to add a new chapter to a professional sporting career that seemed to be in ruins a few years ago. Hopoate, who gained international notoriety for poking his fingers up the backsides of opposition players in his league days, claimed the title when the defending champion Bob Mirovic threw in the towel after being knocked down by a succession of heavy punches in the ninth round. It was a sweet victory for Hopoate, who only took up boxing three years ago when his National Rugby League club Manly tore up his contract after he was banned for 17 matches for a tackle that left an opponent badly concussed and bleeding from the ear. It marked the ninth time Hopoate had been suspended from the NRL with bans totaling 45 matches for offences ranging from abusing match officials to turning up to training drunk. Hopoate’s best-known indiscretion was in 2001 when he was banned for 12 weeks then sacked by his club Wests Tigers after poking his fingers up the backsides of opposition players in tackles.
■SOCCER
Player leaves intensive care
Valenciennes defender David Sommeil has been allowed to leave intensive care nearly three weeks after suffering a heart attack while training, a club spokesman said on Wednesday. The 34-year-old player, who collapsed during a training session for the French first division side on Aug. 20, has been told he can look forward to a full, albeit long, recovery. Sommeil, who joined Valenciennes from Manchester City last season, underwent a battery of cardiology tests before being tranferred to a rehabilitation center. Sommeil was admitted to hospital unconscious and awoke partially on Aug. 26. He was declared clinically awake on Sept. 4, although he was unable to make any sounds.
■PARALYMPICS
Police catch scalpers
Beijing police caught 134 scalpers selling Paralympic Games tickets near competition venues and detained 99 in a single day, local media reported yesterday. Police swept up scalpers on Wednesday for “disturbing social order” at two entrances of the main Olympic Green and a nearby subway station, the Beijing News said, citing the city’s public security authority. The detained had been handed “administrative punishments and fined,” the paper said. Scalping was rife at last month’s Beijing Olympics, with locals and foreigners seen openly offering tickets outside venues, despite government pledges to crack down and dozens of arrests. Policemen were even seen among the buyers.
■SOCCER
Katongo on target for Zambia
Striker Felix Katongo scored the only goal to lead Zambia over Togo 1-0 on Wednesday in a World Cup qualifier. Katongo scored from 30m in the 32nd minute of the match at Konkola Stadium in Chililabombwe. Zambia played aggressively from the start, with Collins Mbesuma, Rainford Kalaba and Jacob Mulenga looking dangerous but unable to score. Zambia moved top of the three-team Group 11 with 7 points from four matches. Swaziland are second with 4 points and Togo have 3. In a Group 10 match on Wednesday Chad lost 3-1 to Sudan on neutral territory in Egypt. Mali remain favorites to progress from the group especially since they play host to bottom-placed Chad on the final matchday. Congo are level with Mali on 9 points, but they face Sudan away from home in their final encounter.
■BASKETBALL
Call me Monkey King: Sun
Los Angeles-bound guard Sun Yue (孫悅) has said he does not want to be known as “China’s Magic Johnson” as he seeks a spot on the Lakers roster, but is happy to be known as the “Monkey King.” Sun is expected to depart for the Lakers’ training camp as soon as the US embassy in Beijing issues his visa, and he is confident that he can make a roster that is led by superstars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. “I don’t want to be called the next Magic Johnson,” Sun told the China Daily of the nickname given him to by the Chinese sporting press. “He was a great player, and he has everything you could ask for in a coach, but I don’t think I am going to pattern my game after him in my rookie year,” he said of the legendary player and Lakers part-owner. The 23-year-old Sun was signed by Los Angeles to a multi-year contract after he helped China to an eighth-place finish at the Beijing Olympics, averaging 6.8 points and 2.5 assists a game. Chinese fans in Los Angeles are already calling him “Sun Wukong,” after the mythical “Monkey King,” the legendary simian hero of the Chinese Buddhist literary classic Journey to the West. “If they want to name me after the fighting Buddhist master then I guess that will make me a bit more literary,” Sun told journalists.
■BASEBALL
Players penalized over fight
Yankees catcher Ivan Rodriguez and the Los Angeles Angels outfielder Torii Hunter were suspended two games each on Wednesday for their roles in a bench-clearing scuffle. Rodriguez took an openhanded swing at Hunter after getting shoved in the back by the Angels star, and both players were ejected on Monday. Bob Watson, baseball’s vice president in charge of discipline, cited them for “violent and inappropriate actions.” Both were fined, as was Angels pitcher John Lackey. Los Angeles went on to win 12-1.
■BASKETBALL
Rivers’ contract extended
The Boston Celtics extended the contract of coach Doc Rivers as a reward for leading the club to their first championship in 22 years, the team said on Wednesday. “We are pleased to be able to extend Doc’s contract,” Celtics general manager Danny Ainge said in a statement on the team’s Web site. “Doc molded a championship team last season through his leadership and we are confident that he is the man to lead this franchise on the court now and in the future.” Terms of the extension were not released.
■BASKETBALL
Rookies fined over women
Darrell Arthur and Mario Chalmers were fined US$20,000 apiece by the NBA on Wednesday after being banished last week from the league’s rookie symposium. Security at the resort near New York where the event took place found Arthur and Chalmers in a room with two women, and the scent of marijuana was detected. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found, but having guests in the room violated NBA policy, and the two rookies were sent home. Arthur and Chalmers apologized but denied using marijuana. Next year they’ll have to again attend the symposium, which addresses the challenges of making the transition to professional basketball. Arthur and Chalmers helped the University of Kansas win the US college championship and were selected in the June draft. Arthur is with the Memphis Grizzlies and Chalmers with the Miami Heat.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set