■BASKETBALL
Moscow set up repeat final
Holders CSKA Moscow edged past Barcelona 82-78 to set up a repeat of the 2007 Euroleague final against Panathinaikos, who beat local rivals Olympiakos 84-82 in the other semi-final on Friday. CSKA beat Barcelona thanks to Lithuanian forward Ramunas Siskauskas, who scored 18 of his 29 career-high points in the fourth quarter. With the Spaniards leading for most of the match, Siskauskas sprang into action in the final 10 minutes to book his team’s place in their fourth straight final. In a nail-biting finale to the second semi-final, Olympiakos failed to level when forward Josh Childress pushed the ball to the rim twice in the dying seconds with bitter rivals Panathinaikos ahead 84-82.
■CYCLING
Rabon back in yellow
Czech Frantisek Rabon took advantage of Team Columbia’s victory in the third stage of the Tour de Romandie on Friday to reclaim the race leader’s yellow jersey. Columbia won the 14.8km team time trial in 18 minutes and 37 seconds, beating teams Caisse d’Epargne and Saxo Bank by 10 seconds and 16 seconds respectively in Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland. Overall, Rabon lead Dane Lars Back by just one second ahead of yesterday’s 157.5km fourth stage to Ste Croix, seen as the most grueling in the race with three first category climbs.
■CYCLING
Armstrong draws publicity
Lance Armstrong draws a crowd anywhere he goes, and Tour of the Gila organizers couldn’t be happier about it. Returning from a broken collarbone, Armstrong has provided a major publicity boost for the New Mexico race, now in its 23rd year. Armstrong placed third on Friday in the Gila’s third stage, a time trial that started and finished in the mining village of Tyrone. He covered the hilly 26km course in 34 minutes, 22 seconds.
■CRICKET
Collingwood retakes lead
Paul Collingwood, who stepped down as England one-day captain last year, was named on Friday to lead the Twenty20 side in next month’s World Cup. Collingwood resigned the captaincy at the same time as test skipper Michael Vaughan because he felt it was affecting his test form. He was also at the center of an acrimonious confrontation with the New Zealand team when he appealed for a run-out at The Oval in a one-day international after batsman Grant Elliott collided in mid-pitch with England bowler Ryan Sidebottom. Collingwood was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for the Indian Premier League this year but did not play a single match before returning from South Africa for the first Test against West Indies starting at Lord’s on Wednesday.
■BOXING
Mayweather to fight again
Floyd Mayweather Jr is back, ending his brief retirement from boxing. The undefeated five-division champion planned yesterday to announce his return to the sport with a July fight against WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, a person close to the fight confirmed on Friday. Mayweather last fought when he stopped Ricky Hatton in the 10th round of their December 2007 welterweight WBC title fight. He was expected to fight Oscar De La Hoya in a rematch of the fight he narrowly won earlier that year, but last June said he would not fight again because he had lost his love for the sport. The 32-year-old Mayweather has won all 39 of his fights and could put himself in position for a fight against the winner of yesterday’s bout between Manny Pacquiao and Hatton.
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