■ TENNIS
Federer to be a father
Roger Federer said in a message posted on Thursday on his Web site that girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec is pregnant with the couple’s first child. “This is a dream come true for us,’’ the 27-year-old Federer said. “We love children and we are looking forward to being parents for the first time. Mirka is feeling great and everything is going well.” The baby is due sometime in the summer, he said. “We are so happy to be starting a family together,” said Federer, who met Vavrinec at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
■ SOCCER
Paraguayans slam insult
Paraguay’s Congress has condemned the use of the country’s flag by fans of Argentine side Independiente to insult rivals Boca Juniors during a match. “We want to express our total and utter repudiation at this discriminatory act against Paraguayans and Bolivians by a group of misfits,” said Congressman Victor Rios as members voted in favour of a motion to condemn the incident. Paraguayan and Bolivian flags with the number 12 marked on them were waved by Independiente supporters during the first division game in Buenos Aires on Sunday. Boca Juniors have traditionally enjoyed widespread support among the working class and their fan base is reputed to include substantial numbers of immigrants from Bolivia and Paraguay. Their supporters are often known as “the 12th man” or simply “12”. Rival fans use the terms Bolivian and Paraguayan as an insult. The president of the Paraguayan Football Association, Juan Angel Napout, said he considered the matter closed. “I don’t think that these few represent the majority,” he told reporters. Independiente have publicly condemned the supporters’ behavior.
■ TENNIS
Philippines wants tie moved
Philippine authorities have asked Davis Cup organizers to move the July regional playoff against Pakistan from Lahore to Manila due to fears of its players being attacked. Philippine Lawn Tennis Association vice president Randy Villanueva cited the March 3 attack on Sri Lanka’s cricketers in Lahore as evidence of the risk for sports team visiting Pakistan. “We asked them to be moved here to the Philippines because of the safety of our players and because of recent events in Pakistan, especially the cricket team of Sri Lanka getting attacked,” Villanueva said. Three leading Filipino players are dual US-Philippine citizens who Villanueva feared may be targeted because of their US passports. The association was awaiting a response from the International Tennis Federation, which shifted last week’s Pakistan-Oman tie to Muscat from its original venue in Lahore.
■ TENNIS
Black backs Zimbabwe
Retired Zimbabwean player Wayne Black, who made a surprise return to his homeland last week, has urged the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to help develop young talent in his country. “They [the ITF] can start by putting many tournaments here but they are obviously scared because of the situation here,” Black said. Black, who had been coaching in London since retiring from the doubles circuit in 2005, said he now intends to help develop players in Zimbabwe. Black admitted that coming back to Zimbabwe had not been an easy decision due to the economic and political strife in the country. “We thought about it. We were a little bit concerned. But I thought things were on their way up,” Black 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
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