■TENNIS
Star going to college
Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten is going to college. Kuerten, a former top-ranked player who retired from the circuit last year, found out on Monday that he had won admission to attend a theater college in his hometown of Florianopolis in southern Brazil. He is scheduled to begin classes on Feb. 16, spokeswoman Clarissa Machado Santos said. Kuerten is one of Brazil’s biggest sporting idols, and when he took the admission test last year security was needed to prevent fans from bothering him. The 32-year-old Kuerten gave up professional tennis last year because of a chronic hip injury that required surgery in 2002 and 2004. He won 20 singles titles in his 15-year career, including at Roland Garros in 1997, 2000 and 2001.
■SUMO
President praises sumo
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov told Japanese Emperor Akihito on Monday that the traditional Japanese sport of sumo wrestling is bringing their two countries closer together, officials said. Parvanov made the remark when he and his wife were received by Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace on the second day of their visit to Japan, the Imperial Household Agency said. Bulgarian wrestler Kotooshu, 25, whose real name Kaloyan Mahlyanov, last year became the first European to win a bimonthly professional sumo tournament. In 2005, he became the first European to become reach the rank of ozeki, the second-highest in sumo. “Thanks to Kotooshu, sumo is well known in Bulgaria and people are feeling closer to Japan,” Parvanov was quoted by the agency as telling the emperor and the empress. Kotooshu has a huge following in Japan and is adored for his good looks.
■RUGBY UNION
English team loses 194-3
Coventry Saracens suffered the worst-ever defeat in an English league match at the weekend when they lost 194-3 to Alcester but won praise from their opponents for playing the match despite having only eight players. “We dropped three forwards out of the scrum to make it five against three in the scrums but all credit to Coventry Saracens for honoring the fixture,” Alcester captain Scott Carmichael told the Rugby Football Union. “A lot of clubs would have cried off, but they turned up and insisted that the game went ahead so they deserve a lot of credit. They have gone up in our estimation and we appreciated their efforts,” he said. Alcester ran in 32 tries in the Midlands West Six match to surpass the previous highest score in a game in England, 177-3 set by Norwich in a Norfolk Cup match against Eccles & Attleborough 13 years ago. The tally fell well short of the world record score of 350-0 set by French third division side Lavardac against Vergt in 1984 when the losers refused to tackle in protest at having players suspended. Vergt conceded 66 tries, which were then valued at four points each.
■SOCCER
Ancelotti blasts Mourinho
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti turned up the title heat on Inter rival Jose Mourinho by accusing him of a lack of respect. Mourinho was sent to the stands by referee Domenico Celi after he charged out of his dug-out to protest a decision during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Sampdoria. He later accused Celi of lacking experience and being afraid of giving a decision to Inter but Ancelotti hit out at the former Chelsea boss. “I don’t believe Celi was afraid. And I believe Mourinho has lacked respect in his manner of confronting the referee and I believe the decision to send him off was justified,” he said.
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