■CYCLING
Armstrong to race in Giro
Lance Armstrong has told organizers that he will race in the Giro d’Italia. The announcement posted on the Gazzetta dello Sport’s Web site on Thursday removed doubts that the seven-time Tour de France champion would miss the race after having surgery to fix his broken right collarbone last month. The Gazzetta said the American contacted organizers on Thursday from Colorado, where is currently training. The Giro runs from May 9 to May 31. It will mark the first time Armstrong has raced in the Italian classic, considered cycling’s second most important race after the Tour de France.
■RUGBY UNION
Baxter eyes Europe
Australian rugby’s most-capped prop forward Al Baxter said he was likely to play in Europe next season following a breakdown in contract negotiations with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), reports said yesterday. Tight-head prop Baxter, 32, said talks with the ARU had failed and that he had told the national and NSW Rugby unions he intended to pursue negotiations with several European clubs. Baxter, who has played in 64 Tests and two World Cups, said he had received three offers from European clubs before the ARU talks collapsed. He said he hoped the ARU would reconsider its stance over the financial component of a two-year deal that would extend his Wallabies career to include the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
■SOCCER
Helsingborg go top
Christoffer Andersson scored a fluke goal with 11 minutes left to give Helsingborg a 1-0 win over Hammarby on Thursday and top spot in the Swedish first-division. Andersson curled a corner kick past the Stockholm side’s goalkeeper Kristoffer Bjorklund in the 79th minute after heavy pressure by Helsingborg in the second half. Helsingborg tops the standings after three rounds with nine points on better goal difference than second-place Malmo FF, who beat AIK 1-0 in Solna.
■GOLF
Senate acts on language
The California Senate has voted to make it illegal to hold events that require participants to speak English in a move prompted by the US LPGA Tour’s English-only proposal. The women’s golf tour wanted last year to require its players to speak English so they could talk with each other and the media, and give acceptance speeches in English. The US LPGA backed off the plan after Senator Leland Yee and others criticized it as discriminatory. Yee says the proposal insulted women, minorities and immigrants, and might disqualify the best golfers. Her bill makes such policies illegal in California without a “business necessity.” It was approved on Thursday by 21-14 without debate.
■SOCCER
Arellano out after 17 days
After 17 days as manager, Omar Arellano was fired by Chivas Guadalajara and immediately replaced by Francisco “Paco” Ramirez on Thursday. Arellano took the job on March 30, a week after Efrain Flores was removed from the position. Arellano managed just three matches; a win and two draws. “We decided to give the manager job to Francisco Ramirez,” Chivas owner Jorge Vergara told a press conference. “We know that it might be hard for some of you to understand the change before a classic, but we were not in good shape in football terms, so we needed a change.”
■BASKETBALL
Ainge suffers heart attack
Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was hospitalized after suffering what the team described as a minor heart attack on Thursday. The team issued a brief statement saying that Ainge, 50, was taken to a Boston hospital, but provided few other details. “Danny Ainge is recovering at Massachusetts General Hospital after having a minor heart attack. He is recovering nicely,” the team said. “Mr Ainge is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days.” A spokeswoman for Massachusetts General Hospital referred queries to the team. Ainge helped the Celtics raise their record 17th NBA championship by assembling a “New Big Three” by acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join veteran Paul Pierce.
■ICE HOCKEY
Celine Dion in Canadiens bid
Singing superstar Celine Dion is part of a consortium considering a bid for fabled ice hockey side the Montreal Canadiens, it was reported on Thursday. Dion, as well as press baron Pierre Karl Peladeau and Seagram drinks heir Stephen Bronfman, form the group that wants to purchase the 24-time Stanley Cup champions from owner George Gillett, who bought the club nine years ago for US$185 million, the Globe and Mail reported. “There is a group bid being discussed and it’s clear that Gillett is very willing to sell if the price is right,” a banker, who is helping line up financing for potential bidders, was quoted as saying. Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte dropped out of the bidding for the team last week, sources in the financial community said.
■ICE HOCKEY
Jagr’s winner downs Sweden
Jaromir Jagr scored a power-play goal with 5 minutes, 6 seconds left to give the Czech Republic a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the first round of the Ceska Pojistovna Cup on Thursday. The Czech forward also set up Petr Cajanek’s opening goal for the host nation after 12 minutes, 33 seconds of the second period. Christian Berglund made it 1-1 with 1 minute, 42 seconds left of the second period with a one-timer past screened Czech goalie Jakub Stepanek. Jagr’s winner came with two Swedes in the penalty box. Hannes Hyvonen scored twice as Finland beat Russia 4-2 in the other opening-round game in Tampere, Finland. The Finns rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three goals in the final period. Toni Kahkonen equalized two minutes into the third period, Hyvonen put Finland ahead after 8 minutes, 29 seconds on a power play and then scored the game-winner with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left.
■ICE HOCKEY
Flyers’ Carcillo suspended
Philadelphia Flyers forward Daniel Carcillo was suspended for one game and coach John Stevens was fined US$10,000 by the NHL on Thursday, a day after Carcillo hit Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot in the head in their playoff opener. With seven seconds left in the Penguins’ 4-1 victory on Wednesday, Carcillo delivered a blow to Talbot’s head directly off a face-off. Talbot wasn’t hurt and Carcillo was not penalized for the hit.
■FOOTBALL
Travis Henry faces jail term
Former NFL running back Travis Henry was facing 10 years behind bars on Thursday after pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine. Henry, 30, was arrested in Denver in October after a cocaine trafficking ring, operating between Colorado and Montana, was smashed. The former Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos player was freed on bail, but will be sentenced on July 15.
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