■ICE HOCKEY
Sacco to coach Avalanche
Joe Sacco, who spent 13 years playing in the National Hockey League and helped the US place fourth at the 1992 Winter Olympics, was named coach of the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The 40-year-old American has coached Colorado’s top development club for the past two seasons after two prior years in an assistant’s role. He also served as an assistant coach for the US team at this year’s World Championships. “This organization has provided me with all the necessary tools and support to be successful and grow as a coach,” Sacco said. “I’m confident in my abilities and believe the experience I’ve gained will help me succeed in this new challenge.” Sacco was a right wing who scored 94 goals and added 119 assists in 738 total NHL games for Toronto, Anaheim, Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Islanders. Sacco replaces Tony Granato, who was fired on Wednesday, and will take over an Avalanche squad that scored the fewest goals in the NHL last season and finished last in the Western Conference.
■BASKETBALL
Wade sues former partner
NBA star Dwyane Wade is suing a former business partner for US$100 million, claiming the man made false statements about alleged drug use and called the Miami Heat guard a bully and coward. Wade’s lawsuit claims Richard von Houtman is guilty of libel and slander. One e-mail to then-Heat coach Pat Riley claims that Wade and other Heat players smoked marijuana and used steroids. Another e-mail asks Riley to pressure Wade to settle a lawsuit filed by Von Houtman over a failed restaurant venture. Wade’s lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court claims Von Houtman’s e-mails and public statements were false and that they harmed Wade’s reputation.
■BASEBALL
Burnett suspended for six
New York Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett was suspended for six games on Thursday for throwing high-and-tight to the Texas Rangers’ Nelson Cruz in an American League game this week. Burnett appealed the penalty, which had been set to take effect immediately. He can continue to pitch until the hearing. Burnett said it was the first time he’d been suspended. He seemed a bit surprised by the severity, and said his first reaction when told was: “Really?” Burnett sailed a fastball near the head of Cruz during a 12-3 win on Tuesday. Earlier in the game, Texas’ Vicente Padilla twice hit Mark Teixeira with pitches, and said later it wasn’t deliberate. Padilla has hit seven batters, second in the AL to Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Burnett and Padilla were fined undisclosed amounts. Cruz had homered earlier, and plate umpire Doug Eddings warned both teams after Burnett’s pitch sailed past Cruz.
■OLYMPICS
US loses another sponsor
Bank of America has become the third major sponsor not to renew a sponsorship contract with the US Olympic Committee (USOC), a key loss coming just eight months before the Winter Olympics. Following the now-bankrupt General Motors and The Home Depot in not renewing deals, Bank of America did not sign on for another four-year cycle after ending a four-year deal worth between US$12 million and US$15 million. The bank had been a USOC sponsor for 16 years through last year’s Beijing Olympics. Kellogg’s also dropped the USOC after Beijing. USOC officials have a preliminary deal in place with Proctor and Gamble and are in talks for a renewal with AT&T.
■SOCCER
Reds accountants worried
Accountants have voiced concern over the short-term viability of Liverpool’s parent company as the club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, attempt to refinance £350 million (US$560 million) in debt. Annual accounts for Kop Football (holdings) Ltd, which were published on Thursday, showed that the parent company incurred losses of £42.6 million in the year to last July, largely because of interest payments on the debt that was incurred to enable Hicks and Gillett to buy the club. The club’s accountants, KPMG, issued their warning in a note attached to the accounts. It said: “The group has credit facilities amounting to 350 million pounds which expire on 24 July 2009. The directors have initiated negotiations to secure the replacement finance required by the group and these negotiations are ongoing. These conditions ... indicate the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group’s and parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
■SOCCER
Valencia president resigns
The president of Spanish first division side Valencia announced his resignation on Thursday, admitting he had been unable to put in place a business plan that would ensure the club’s economic viability. “I have come here to announce my irrevocable resignation as president of Valencia Football Club,” Vicente Soriano, who took office last July, said in a statement. “Since the day I became president, I have been struggling to achieve economic and sporting viability for the club. Today, despite having an operation in progress, I have not fully succeeded.” Valencia are in the midst of a financial crisis that is threatening their survival. The two-time Champions League finalists temporarily suspended payments to players in February and stopped work on a new stadium amid massive debts.
■TENNIS
Gasquet denies drug use
Embattled French tennis player Richard Gasquet, who tested positive for cocaine in March, said yesterday he had never knowingly used the banned substance. “I have never taken any cocaine in my life, I can swear it,” world No. 21 Gasquet told French radio Europe 1. “It was something small, they found 150 nanograms, I have been told it is the equivalent of one tenth of a line.” Gasquet, who was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) last month, tested positive at the Sony Ericsson Open in March. He had pulled out of the Miami tournament without playing a match, citing a shoulder injury. If Gasquet fails to clear his name, he could face a two-year suspension from the sport.
■BOXING
Champ wants Chagaev bout
Heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko would prefer to fight Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev after Britain’s David Haye had to pull out of this month’s world title bout with a back injury, his manager said on Thursday. Bernd Bonte told Setanta Sports News Klitschko had received numerous offers to replace Haye (22-1) for the June 20 clash but that delaying the fight or facing WBA champion-in-recess Chagaev (25-0-1) were the only options being considered. “It’s still a possibility [fighting Haye] but our first priority is Chagaev, but that fight is not a done deal,” Bonte said. “Chagaev would be a big fight. It would be for The Ring belt. I have got confirmation from The Ring [magazine]. At the moment we are only interested in Chagaev or Haye on June 20 or three weeks later.”
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with