■BASEBALL
Schilling calls it a day
Curt Schilling, who won World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks, announced his retirement on Monday on his Internet blog. Schilling, 42, signed a one-year deal with Boston after helping them to a 2007 World Series crown but missed the entire 2008 Major League Baseball campaign with a shoulder injury. “After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official,” Schilling wrote. “This party has officially ended.” Schilling was part of the Arizona squad that upset the New York Yankees in 2001, the Diamondbacks going the maximum to capture the best-of-seven championship series. In 2004, Schilling helped the Red Sox snap an 86-year World Series title drought, famously playing with a foot injury that saw blood seep onto his sock, turning it red during a victory at Boston’s Fenway Park. Schilling went 216-146 for his career with a 3.46 earned-run average and 3,116 strikeouts over 569 games with the Red Sox, Diamondbackers, Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles.
■SOCCER
Player charged with assault
Hibernian’s Darren McCormack was charged on Monday in connection with an alleged assault on Calum Elliot, a striker who plays for Hibs’ bitter Edinburgh rivals Hearts. McCormack, a defender, was arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning, following an incident in Edinburgh city center. Hibernian, confirming that McCormack had been charged, said in a statement: “It would not be appropriate to comment further on any action that may or may not be taken through due legal process. The club takes an extremely serious view of such incidents and will take internal disciplinary action as appropriate.”
■SOCCER
Tough guy shows emotions
Brazil coach Dunga, usually seen as a tough, uncompromising figure, touched on a personal drama and came close to tears in a television interview on Monday. Dunga, a hard-tackling former midfielder, became emotional when he was asked about the pressures involved in his job. The coach, who has been heavily-criticized since taking over as coach in 2006, used the example of his parents to put the situation into perspective. “Nobody suffers more pressure than my mother,” said Dunga in the program Painel RBS. “My father has had Alzheimer’s for eight years and she’s always by his side, she has not at any moment weakened, so I’m not going to be the one who becomes weak. People can say what they want, there’s nothing worse than that,” he said, holding back tears.
■CRICKET
Miandad praises potential
Javed Miandad believes China has the potential to become a major cricket market within the next decade after the former Pakistan Test captain returned from a fact-finding mission to the country. “The enthusiasm and interest I saw there from government officials to university students is encouraging,” Miandad said yesterday of last week’s visit to Beijing in his newly appointed role as Pakistan’s cricket ambassador to China. “They definitely have potential, the interest and resources to become a respected cricket playing nation.” Miandad said China represented an ideal platform from where the International Cricket Council could globalize the sport. The Asian Cricket Council and ICC currently provide technical assistance and equipment to China.
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