■HORSE RACING
Trainer dies after kick
An 88-year-old thoroughbred trainer was fatally struck in the head by one of his horses before the start of a race. John Wilson was unresponsive after he was hit and was taken by ambulance to Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was pronounced dead, Jennifer See, a spokeswoman for Presque Isle Downs and Casino, said on Sunday. Wilson is based out of a track in Fort Erie, Ontario. On Saturday night, he was readying two-year-old gelding Forbidden Dreams for a stakes race, See said. “The horse reared up, and when it came back down it struck him in the head,” she said.
■GOLF
Spaniard wins Masters
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano beat Lee Westwood by making par on the third playoff hole to win the British Masters on Sunday in Sutton Coldfield, England. The Spaniard putted from just off the green on the 18th hole at the Belfry to within an inch, and then watched as defending champion Westwood chipped poorly and missed a 15-foot par putt. Both players parred the 18th on the first two playoff holes. The victory earned Fernandez-Castano 382,000 euros (US$300,000). Fernandez-Castano began the final round three strokes behind Westwood and Michael Campbell, but shot a 5-under 67 while Westwood carded a 70.
■SUMO
Wrestlers vulnerable to virus
Japan’s sumo wrestlers are vulnerable to a more virulent strain of a herpes skin virus, contracted through grappling their opponents, scientists said on Sunday. The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is notorious among the general public for causing unsightly cold sores and sore throats. The symptoms recur because the pathogen can hide in nerve cells for a long time and then leap out. But a more extreme form of the disease occurs among athletes who take part in close-contact sports, such as sumo, rugby and judo. Known as Herpes gladiatorum, or scrumpox, it causes painful, virus-filled blisters to form on the face and the neck that can damage the skin.
■CYCLING
Schleck to face probe
Frank Schleck said on Sunday he will explain doping allegations to cycling authorities in his native Luxembourg over the coming days and insisted he had never taken illegal drugs. The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper alleged over the weekend that Schleck, who held the yellow jersey for three days during the Tour de France, was involved in the Spanish Operation Puerto doping scandal two years ago and had sent money to the key doctor involved. “I have never doped and I will explain myself next week to the authorities,” he said after finishing 41th in Sunday’s world championships.
■FOOTBALL
The Boss to play halftime
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, Florida, the NFL and NBC announced on Sunday night. Continuing a run of major talent that has lately included the Rolling Stones, U2, Paul McCartney, Prince and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the biggest television event in the nation will showcase one of its most beloved rock artists. The Super Bowl will be played Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium. Last year’s halftime show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the US, the NFL said in a statement. It wasn’t always that way: For years, the game’s halftime show was made up of local and college marching bands.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier