■ BASKETBALL
Racism probe dropped
The head of Lithuania’s basketball federation has no case to answer over a racist outburst against two black Americans who play for a top club in the Baltic state, prosecutors said on Monday. The Lithuania prosecutor general’s office announced that after a probe, launched on Oct. 29, it had concluded that there was no criminal element in Vladas Garastas’ comments. Garastas found himself under investigation following a complaint by a local human rights group for alleged public instigation of hatred, an offense that carries up to two years in prison. In an interview published last month in a Lithuanian newspaper, Garastas had lashed out at two US players from his old team Kaunas Zalgiris, center Loren Woods and guard Willie M. Deane III. “I’d fire that nigger who plays for Zalgiris right away,” Garastas was quoted as saying, without saying which man he meant. “The next generation [of Lithuanian players] isn’t being groomed. All they have playing are some black assholes,” he said. Prosecutors said they had determined that Garastas’ interviewer had failed to warn him that the conversation was being taped and was for public consumption. He therefore may have been mistaken in believing that he was simply being asked for his private opinion, they ruled.
■SOCCER
Player fractures skull
Barnsley striker Iain Hume is being treated for a fractured skull and the Tykes have accused Sheffield United captain Chris Morgan of elbowing him in the face. The Canadian international went off the field after the incident in Barnsley’s 2-1 loss at Oakwell Stadium on Saturday and the League Championship club reported he was taken to the hospital’s high dependency unit when his condition deteriorated. “He got caught in the face with an elbow,” Barnsley manager Simon Davey said. “He couldn’t move his neck. His neck was stiff and his cheekbone’s not in the same shape it was when he started the game.” Davey said that Morgan should have been sent off. “Iain received no protection whatsoever from the referee on Saturday ... it sickens me just thinking about it,” Davey said. “He could have died.”
■CRICKET
Former ref to make history
Martin Bodenham will make a little bit of officiating history next year when he becomes the first former top-flight soccer referee to also stand in county cricket as a full first-class umpire. Bodenham’s name was among a list of full-time professional umpires unveiled on Monday. “I am absolutely delighted to be on the full list,” Bodenham said. “I began playing cricket when I was around 10 or 11 years old and love the game. When I retired as a football referee 10 years ago I took up umpiring ... Cricket is and always has been my major sporting passion.”
■HOCKEY
Capitals defeat Lightning
Tom Poti, Mike Green and Eric Fehr scored in the first period and Alex Ovechkin added his first goal in 10 games as the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Monday. Gary Roberts had two goals for Tampa Bay. At New York, Ales Hemsky scored the only goal in the shootout and goalie Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 40 saves for Edmonton, in a victory over the Rangers. Hemsky’s shot in the second round was blocked but not enough to keep it out of the net. The Rangers erased a 2-0 deficit on goals by Paul Mara and Chris Drury. The tying tally came 46 seconds into the third period when Drury got to a rebound of a shot and popped it over Drouin-Deslauriers, 20 seconds after New York’s power play expired.
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