■CYCLING
Moncoutie wins stage
Controversial Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde stayed on course to win the Dauphine Libere race after Frenchman David Moncoutie won the seventh and penultimate stage of the race on Saturday. Moncoutie beat Dutchman Robert Gesink by around 40 seconds while former yellow jersey wearer Cadel Evans was third. Valverde, who faces a worldwide doping ban if cycling’s world ruling body the UCI acts upon evidence yet to be delivered by the Italian sporting authorities, finished alongside Evans, some 15 seconds ahead of compatriot and 2007 Tour de France champion Alberto Contador.
■CYCLING
Cancellara returns to form
Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara returned to form to win the opening stage of the Tour of Switzerland on Saturday. The Swiss rider clocked 9 minutes, 21 seconds in a 7.8km time trial over flat terrain in neighboring Liechtenstein. Roman Kreuziger of the Czech Republic was 19 seconds behind and Germany’s Andreas Kloeden trailed Cancellara by 21 seconds in third place. George Hincapie of the US was a further three seconds back as Team Columbia-Highroad riders filled the placings from fourth to seventh. Cancellara was claiming just his second stage victory of the season, after winning the Tour of California prologue in February. He pulled out of that race the next day with flu and has been slowed by shoulder injuries since.
■SOCCER
Trio reach top flight
Tenerife, Xerez and Zaragoza earned promotion to Spain’s topflight division on Saturday. Xerez’s 2-1 victory over Huesca assured its first promotion in the club’s 62-year history, while Tenerife beat Girona 1-0 to return after seven years. Zaragoza’s 3-1 victory over Cordoba saw them return after only one season in the second division. One round still remains in the second division, but fourth-place Hercules are five points behind Zaragoza and four behind Tenerife and Xerez. The three clubs replace Real Betis, Recreativo Huelva and Numancia next season. Alaves, who lost the UEFA Cup final to Liverpool in 2001, were relegated to the third division.
■SOCCER
Cahill booted out of club
Australian international Tim Cahill was kicked out of a Sydney nightclub after a drunken fracas, reports said yesterday. Newspapers said the Everton player was told to leave the nightspot on Friday because of his drunken state. Several witnesses told the Sunday Telegraph Cahill got into an altercation at the club when he was advised to leave because he was “so drunk he couldn’t even stand up.” But Football Federation Australia (FFA) said it investigated the allegations and found them untrue. “FFA has made inquiries of Tim, the other players and their partners who were present and venue management,” an FFA statement said yesterday. “FFA is satisfied that the allegation is untrue. FFA understands that Tim left the premises when asked to do so when it was closing, along with all other patrons.” According to newspaper accounts, Cahill became angry when he was refused service by bar staff and became involved in an argument which escalated into a physical “push and shove” with club security before he was shown the door. “He then got outside where it was about 10 of them, including other players and about five security,” one witness told the Sunday Telegraph. “They were fired up and looked like they wanted to go on with it, but then they jumped in a car and got out of there.”
■GOLF
Hart pulls out of US Open
American Dudley Hart has withdrawn from next week’s US Open Championship because of back problems, organizers said on Saturday. The 40-year-old Hart, who has two US Tour wins to his credit, last year was voted Comeback Player of the Year. Taking his place will be 20-year-old amateur Scott Lewis of Goleta, California. On Friday, Swede Robert Karlsson, the European No. 1 last year, withdrew from the championship because of an eye infection. Karlsson, who tied for fourth in last year’s US Open at Torrey Pines, was replaced in the field at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York, by American Andrew Svoboda.
■BASKETBALL
Mercury set scoring record
Phoenix Mercury set a WNBA record for most points in a game, winning 115-104 in overtime against the Sacramento Monarchs on Saturday. Diana Taurasi scored 31 points and Le’Coe Willingham added 26 as Phoenix recovered after squandering a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Mercury’s score topped the 114 scored by Minnesota against Los Angeles in 2006. The 219 aggregate points were also the third-highest combined total. Taurasi scored eight points in overtime, including two three-pointers early in the extra period to help Phoenix pull away. Nicole Powell scored 15 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter for Sacramento. In San Antonio, Texas, New York Liberty remain winless in the new season after the San Antonio Silver Stars scored a narrow 63-60 victory. Becky Hammon scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to rally San Antonio in its home opener. Shameka Christon scored 21 points to lead New York, which lost its third straight to open the new season, and its sixth straight against the Silver Stars. San Antonio shot 22 for 30 on free throws as New York was whistled for 21 fouls. The Liberty were 9 for 10 from the line.
■BASEBALL
Yoshida records first loss
Japan’s first female professional player struggled with her control in recording her first loss on Friday. Eri Yoshida, a 17-year-old who throws a sidearm knuckleball, took the mound in the ninth inning with the score tied 2-2. With two outs and a runner on third base, Yoshida threw a wild pitch, allowing the winning run to score as the Akashi Red Soldiers won 3-2 against the Kobe Cruise 9. Yoshida also hit a batter with a pitch and threw wildly to first base trying to hold a runner before recording the final out with a strikeout. Yoshida created a stir when she signed a contract in December. Some speculated the move was more of a publicity stunt to generate interest in the four-team Kansai Independent League, which has struggled amid Japan’s worsening economic conditions. The 1.52m, 52kg Yoshida has appeared in only three of the Cruise 9’s 22 games this season.
■BASEBALL
Umpire ejects entire crowd
An umpire has emptied the stands at a high school baseball game in West Burlington, Ohio, ejecting the entire crowd of more than 100 fans for being unruly. Umpire Don Briggs said he had no problem with any of the student athletes during Thursday’s game between Winfield-Mount Union and West Burlington. He said he had to take action because fans were being unruly, yelling and arguing, and called police as a precaution. However, West Burlington superintendent James Sleister said he didn’t see any unusual behavior and said he thought the umpire overreacted. The game resumed after a 40-minute delay. West Burlington won 12-11.
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