■CRICKET
Rain delays start of Test
Persistent rain washed out the opening day’s play of the second Test between Bangladesh and New Zealand yesterday. Umpires Daryl Harper of Australia and Asoka de Silva of Sri Lanka, along with match referee Javagal Srinath of India, inspected the wicket before calling off play at 12:30pm local time. “The situation was assessed and the umpires and match referee felt that no play was possible due to the soggy outfield because of the overnight and morning rain,” an official said. “The play will start half-an-hour early at 9am on Sunday [today].” Persistent rain since morning had forced ground authorities to keep the pitch covered and the toss couldn’t be held. New Zealand lead the two-match series 1-0.
■MOTOGP
Hayden fastest in Valencia
Nicky Hayden of the US led both free practice sessions for the Valencia Grand Prix on Friday. Hayden had a fastest lap of 1 minute, 45.777 seconds around the 4km Cheste circuit. Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa of Spain was second, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo of Spain and former world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy. In the 250cc first qualifying session, Alex Debon of Spain was fastest in 1 minute, 50.001 seconds, ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan and Mika Kallio of Finland. In the 125cc first qualifying session, Simone Corsi of Italy was quickest in 1 minute, 59.809 seconds, ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti of Italy and Stevie Bonsey of the US.
■GOLF
Seve has third operation
Doctors have successfully operated for a third time on golfer Seve Ballesteros to remove remnants of a brain tumor and reduce swelling inside the skull, the Madrid hospital treating him said on Friday. “The targets originally planned have been achieved and [the operation] has eliminated the oedema [swelling] and the remnants of the tumor,” Madrid’s La Paz hospital said in a statement. “The patient is stable ... and is currently controlled in the intensive care unit.” A spokeswoman for the hospital added that the former world No. 1 remained in a serious condition and he would be monitored over the next 48 hours for signs of change. La Paz’s chief brain surgeon Javier Heredero and two other brain surgeons spent six-and-a-half hours operating on Ballesteros, who retired from the game last year after winning 87 titles, including three British Open trophies and two US Masters.
■RUGBY UNION
Scarlets say bye to Stradey
Scarlets said goodbye to their famous Stradey Park home with a 27-0 victory over Bristol in the Anglo-Welsh Cup on Friday. Playing their last match at the Llanelli Stadium, which has been their home for 129 years, the Welsh side saw Morgan Stoddart, Simon Easterby and Rob Higgitt all score tries, while Stephen Jones kicked 10 points. Down the years Stradey witnessed some dramatic matches, including victories over Australia in 1984 and 1992. But the most famous was Llanelli’s 9-3 success over the mighty All Blacks in 1972. Scarlets will now move to a new, 15,000-capacity, all-seater stadium called Parc y Scarlets next month.
■SKIING
Fanchini out for season
Italian Elena Fanchini has been told she will not compete this season after suffering injuries in a crash on Thursday while training for the World Cup ski season opener in Soelden, Austria. Fanchini, a silver medalist in the downhill at the 2005 World Championships, was diagnosed with ruptured left knee ligaments among other injuries after her crash.
■FOOTBALL
Burress incurs fine
New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was fined US$45,000 by the NFL on Friday for verbally abusing an official and tossing a ball into the stands during last weekend’s game against San Francisco. Burress was fined US$20,000 for comments to head linesman Phil McKinnely after the official called him for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and $20,000 for inappropriate comments after the game on the officiating. McKinnely had called Burress for offensive pass interference against cornerback Nate Clements on the previous play. After the next play, Burress drew the unsportsmanlike penalty for some choice remarks to the officials. Burress was assessed another US$5,000 fine for throwing a ball into the stands after catching a touchdown in the third quarter.
■COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Boise State holds on to bid
Boise State kept alive its bid for a berth in the collegiate Bowl Championship Series by beating San Jose State 33-16 on Friday. Kellen Moore threw two touchdown passes and Ian Johnson ran for two scores in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Athletic Conference. San Jose State nearly derailed bids for undefeated seasons by the Broncos in their past two visits to Spartan Stadium and hoped to be able to complete the job this year. But Boise State proved to be too much for the Spartans to handle, winning for the 49th time in its past 51 conference games.
■BOXING
Italian takes WBC belt
Giacobbe Fragomeni became a world champion at age 39 in front of his hometown fans by defeating Rudolf Kraj for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title on Friday. Fragomeni was leading 77-74 on all three judges’ cards when the fight was stopped in the eighth round because of a cut above his eye sustained in the previous round from an illegal headbutt. Kraj, who was attempting to become the first world champion from the Czech Republic, was strong in the first two rounds before ceding to the Italian’s speed. The WBC title was vacated by Britain’s David Haye, who moved to heavyweight recently. Fragomeni’s only defeat to go with his 26 victories was to Haye in 2006.
■YACHTING
Record attempt aborted
British billionaire Richard Branson abandoned his bid to break the trans-Atlantic speed record on Friday after a “monster” wave ripped the main sail of his single-hulled racing yacht two days after setting sail from New York. Branson and his crew made the decision on Friday when the Virgin Money was about 965km out in the Atlantic. No one was injured in the storm, and the sailors hoped to reach St. George, Bermuda — the nearest point of land — later on Friday.
■BASKETBALL
Bulls pick up options
French forward Joakim Noah, Swiss guard Thabo Sefolosha and US forward Tyrus Thomas had contract options for the 2009-2010 National Basketball Association season picked up on Friday by the Chicago Bulls. Noah, the ninth overall selection in last year’s NBA Draft, averaged 6.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in 76 games in his first NBA campaign. Sefolosha, selected 13th overall by Philadelphia in the 2006 draft before being obtained by the Bulls, has spent two seasons with Chicago, averaging 5.1 points and 2.9 rebounds. Thomas, a number four selection obtained by the Bulls in a 2006 draft-day trade, has averaged 6.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in 146 career games. The Bulls will open this year’s season at home on Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks.
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