■BASEBALL
Dodgers re-sign Furcal
The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to a deal with Rafael Furcal to keep the shortstop until 2011, the team said on its Web site on Wednesday. The three-year contract is reportedly worth US$30 million and has an option for a fourth year that rests on 600 plate appearances for Furcal. “[Rafael] can’t take a back seat to anybody, as far as I’m concerned,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre told reporters at last week’s Winter Meetings. “When he is healthy, he showed how valuable he is to our lineup.” Furcal is coming off of an injury-plagued year in which he played in only 36 regular-season games.
■SOCCER
Blackburn appoint Allardyce
Former Bolton and Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce was appointed the manager of Blackburn Rovers on a three-year contract, the English Premier League strugglers announced on Wednesday, a day after they sacked Paul Ince. “Blackburn Rovers are delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Allardyce as manager with immediate effect,” a statement on the club’s official Web site said. “Sam has signed a three-year contract.” Blackburn are second-bottom of the Premier League, having won just three out 17 games so far this season. Allardyce, 54, was a candidate for the post of Blackburn manager when Ince was appointed after Mark Hughes’s departure to join Premier League rivals Manchester City. He had eight years in charge of Rovers’ local rivals Bolton.
■TENNIS
Pregnant star withdraws
Three-time Grand Slam winner Lindsay Davenport announced that she is pregnant and has taken herself off the WTA Tour indefinitely. After agreeing to participate in the Australian Open last week, the 32-year-old former world No. 1 pulled out of the event on Wednesday. “Of course this unexpected, but exciting, surprise now means I will be putting tennis on hold for the foreseeable future,” Davenport said. After returning to the tour after the birth of her first child, Jagger, Davenport won four of her 55 career singles titles.
■SUMO
Wrestlers found guilty
Three wrestlers were handed suspended jail sentences yesterday for beating up a 17-year-old trainee who later died, a court said, in a case that has sparked concern over training practices in the ancient sport. The wrestlers, all in their 20s, had been accused of beating the trainee with a metal bat during sparring practice last year, a day after clobbering him for hours with a beer bottle and a wooden stick, local media reported. A spokesman for the Nagoya District Court said that two of the wrestlers were sentenced to three years in prison and the third was handed a sentence of two and a half years. All the sentences were suspended for five years. Judge Masaharu Ashizawa said the wrestlers were following instructions and traditions of the stable. “It is clear that the violence was conducted under the orders of the stablemaster who wielded absolute power in the stable, where corporal punishment was often carried out,” the judge said. “It would have been difficult for the senior wrestlers to resist the orders,” he said. In light of the guilty verdict, the Japan Sumo Association said it was firing the three wrestlers. “I am not satisfied, but I accept the court’s decision,” Masato Saito, the trainee’s father, told a group of reporters outside the courtroom. He said he wanted the sumo gym leader, or stablemaster, to be held accountable. The stablemaster is facing a separate trial.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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