■ICE HOCKEY
Swiss facing elimination
Hosts Switzerland were left on the brink of elimination at the World Championships after being trounced 4-1 by Sweden on Sunday. The win guaranteed Sweden a quarter-final spot along with Russia, who beat Latvia 6-1. Switzerland, who have only missed out on the quarter-finals once in the last six years, need to beat the US in normal time to have any chance of qualifying. Russia lead Group E with 14 points, followed by the US, Latvia and Sweden on seven and Switzerland on four. Latvia have completed their program and will have to wait with for the outcome of the Switzerland-US tie. Canada, qualified from Group F along with Finland, ended Norway’s lingering hopes with a 5-1 win, defender Drew Doughty producing one goal and two assists. Canada’s win meant that the Czech Republic and Belarus also went through from the group. The Czech Republic beat Belarus 3-0 in Sunday’s other game.
■FOOTBALL
Cowboys staffer paralyzed
A Dallas Cowboys scouting assistant was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed during the collapse of the team’s tent-like practice structure in a severe storm. The team announced Rich Behm was in a stable condition at Parkland Hospital on Sunday after surgery to stabilize a fracture to the thoracic spine. The 33-year-old Behm was among a dozen people hurt in the accident on Saturday and was one of three Cowboys staffers who remained hospitalized. Joe DeCamillis, 43, the team’s special teams coach, sustained a fracture of one of his cervical vertebrae without paralysis. He was in stable condition and scheduled for surgery yesterday. Assistant athletic trainer Greg Gaither, 35, had surgery on Saturday night to repair a fracture to the tibia and fibula in his right leg.
■RUGBY UNION
Bowden to miss Lions clash
Center Daniel Bowden has been suspended for one match following a high tackle during the Otago Highlanders’ 23-15 loss to the Sharks in the Super 14 on Saturday. Bowden was cited for a dangerous tackle on Sharks’ center Riaan Swanepoel in the 35th minute of the second half of the clash in Durban. He was sin-binned for the tackle. He was suspended for one week by judicial officer Dekker Govender at a disciplinary hearing in South Africa and will miss the Highlanders’ clash with the Lions in Johannesburg on Friday.
■BASKETBALL
Tigers clinch CBA title
Defending champions the Guangdong Tigers clinched their fifth Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) title in the last six seasons with a 106-95 win over the Xinjiang Flying Tigers at the weekend. The CBA is China’s most popular sports league, a recent survey showed, and the Dongguan Indoor Arena was packed to the rafters as the Tigers clinched the best-of-seven series 4-1 on Sunday. Guangdong had trailed by 19 points at one stage, before guard Zhu Fangyu’s three-pointer completed a comeback that gave his team a 50-48 halftime lead and they never looked back.
■CYCLING
Kreuziger wins Romandie
Czech rider Roman Kreuziger of the Liquigas team won the Tour of Romandie after the fifth and final stage was won by Spaniard Oscar Freire on Sunday. Freire, a three-time world champion, claimed victory in a bunch sprint for his Rabobank team, holding off the threat of promising young American Tyler Farrar of the Garmin team.
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