■SOCCER
Bielefeld sack Frontzeck
Bundesliga strugglers Arminia Bielefeld sacked coach Michael Frontzeck on Sunday, less than 24 hours after they were hammered 6-0 by Borussia Dortmund. The 45-year-old was appointed in January last year to coach Bielefeld, who are 16th in the league and must beat Hanover 96 on Saturday to avoid relegation from Germany’s top flight. “No decision has been taken concerning a replacement,” the club said. Bielefeld are in the bottom three with Energie Cottbus and Karlsruhe. If they fail to improve their league position, Bielefeld face a play-off against the third-placed side in the second division for a place in the Bundesliga for next season.
■JUMPS RACING
Authorities rule out ban
Horse racing authorities in Victoria state have ruled out a ban on steeplechase and hurdles races despite the deaths of seven horses in recent weeks. Racing Victoria chairman Michael Duffy said yesterday the board’s decision to allow the racing to continue was unanimous, but included changes to the rules to make is safer for horses and jockeys. They include the removal of the final obstacle in all jumps racing. Horses will also be given heart-rate checks before they race to ensure they are fit, and must satisfy stewards they are proficient over jumps.
■NORDIC SKIING
Hoffmann probed
Prosecutors in Austria are investigating possible blood doping by 2002 Olympic cross-country ski champion Christian Hoffmann. Prosecutors have “reasonable suspicion” that the 34-year-old Hoffmann was involved in illegal blood enrichment, spokesman Gerald Tatzgern of the Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service told the Austria Press Agency on Sunday. Tatzgern said Hoffmann denied any wrongdoing when he was questioned several weeks ago. Hoffmann won gold in the 30km cross country race at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and was part of the Austria relay team that won gold at the 1999 world championships in Ramsau.
■CRICKET
IPL clears Amit Singh
Rajasthan Royals paceman Amit Singh was told on Sunday he can continue playing in the Indian Premier League after a report cleared his bowling action. Umpires of a match against Chennai Super Kings in Kimberley, South Africa, last weekend reported the right-arm medium pacer for having a suspect action on certain deliveries. This triggered a three-man probe into the Singh bowling “arsenal” and his stock, slower off-break, off-cutter and leg-cutter deliveries got the green light. However, there was a sting in the tail of the IPL technical committee clearance as Singh will face a one-year suspension if umpires report him again.
■CRICKET
IPL reprimands McCullum
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Brendon McCullum was severely reprimanded on Sunday for showing dissent during an Indian Premier League defeat by Deccan Chargers. The 27-year-old New Zealand wicketkeeper-cum-batsman lost his temper in the final over of a thriller at the Wanderers on Saturday as Deccan chased a 161-run target and the outburst led to a hearing here chaired by the match referee. McCullum was furious when the first delivery of the over was declared a “no ball” because bottom-of-the-table Kolkata did not have sufficient fielders in the circle. The decision stood and Deccan snatched a six-wicket victory when Rohit Sharma struck a six off the final ball.
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