■AUSSIE RULES
Adelaide beer ban ends
The time-honored tradition of drinking a beer in your seat while watching a sporting event is coming to Adelaide’s main Australian Rules football stadium, ending a 35-year-old ban. Local officials helped get the prohibition overturned by citing the global economic crisis. On Sunday, for the first time since its gates opened in 1974, AAMI Stadium (formerly Football Park) will join all other Australian Football League venues in allowing spectators at the Port Adelaide versus Essendon match to drink beer in their seats. Previously, spectators had to drink beer in designated bar areas inside the stadium.
■SOCCER
Kenyans lose their kit
Sales of Kenya replica kits are set for a boost after the national team’s kit went missing days ahead of a World Cup qualifier against Tunisia. Nairobi’s Standard newspaper reported yesterday that officials would have to go out and purchase replica jerseys from the shops after three sets of kit and 2,000 soccer balls went missing from the Kenyan soccer association’s stock. Football Kenya’s technical director Patrick Naggi told the newspaper there was no time to order a new set of kit from the team’s sponsors and there was no option but to buy from the shops. Kenya host Tunisia in Nairobi tomorrow as the final phase of the African qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals begins.
■CURLING
China make playoffs
Wang Bingyu edged Sweden’s Anette Norberg 8-7 yesterday to confirm China’s place in the playoffs at the women’s world championship. Wang, who leads the 12-team competition with a 9-1 win-loss record, scored three in the first end. Norberg — the two-time world and Olympic champion — made three straight ends to take a 4-3 lead. But Wang replied with a deuce in the fifth and a steal of two in the sixth for a 7-4 lead, which the Chinese never relinquished.
■SOCCER
Training session abandoned
South Africa’s national team turned up for a training session on Wednesday, only to find they had been lined up to act in a television commercial no one had told them about, the South African Press Association reported. The 2010 World Cup hosts, preparing for friendly international against Norway tomorrow, were scheduled six months ago to make an ad for their sponsors, but neither the coach nor his team had been told by officials. South Africa’s Brazil coach Joel Santana, now a 10-month veteran of the vagaries of soccer administration in Africa, had to be coaxed into agreeing to abandon his planned session and instead allow his players to be turned into temporary actors. “We will not use this situation as an excuse if we lose to Norway,” assistant coach Jairo Leal said.
■CYCLING
Valverde wins sprint finish
Alejandro Valverde of Spain won a sprint to take the third stage of the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon cycling race, while Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead. Valverde covered the 157km mountain stage in 3 hours, 28 minutes, 16 seconds, to edge Spanish pair Ruben Plaza and Javier Moreno, who both finished with the same time. Leipheimer maintained a 16-second advantage over Astana teammate Alberto Contador with an overall time of 8 hours, 33 minutes, 26 seconds after both riders finished in the pack of riders who all received the same time as Valverde.
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