■BASEBALL
IBF bans Sidney Ponson
Netherlands pitcher Sidney Ponson tested positive for a stimulant during the World Baseball Classic and has been banned from international competition for two years. Major League Baseball will not suspend Ponson, who plays for the Kansas City Royals. Under the drug rules, he will be treated as a first-time offender and is subject to a medical review and fine. The International Baseball Federation (IBF) said on Friday that Ponson tested positive for phentermine, a weight-loss drug that is similar in chemical structure to an amphetamine. The 32-year-old Ponson pitched well for the Netherlands last March in the Classic and later signed a minor league contract with Kansas City.
■BASEBALL
Uehara may miss start
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Koji Uehara probably will be scratched from his scheduled start today because of elbow soreness. Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said on Friday that Uehara was examined by team orthopedist John Wilckens. No structural damage was discovered in the Japanese pitcher’s right elbow, but Trembley said it was “highly doubtful” that Uehara would pitch against Washington today. Uehara last pitched on Tuesday against the Florida Marlins. The rookie allowed one run in six innings and left after throwing only 76 pitches.
■ATHLETICS
Rodgers wins 100m
Young Mike Rodgers, who almost quit running two years ago, claimed the top prize in the men’s 100m when he held on to win in a wind-assisted 9.91 seconds at the US world championships trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday. Fast times also came in a wind-assisted women’s final. Carmelita Jeter edged Olympian Muna Lee by 0.01 seconds for the title, clocking 10.776 seconds to Lee’s 10.777. Former world champion Lauryn Williams claimed third in 10.96 seconds.
■CYCLING
Contador named trial champ
Yellow jersey contender Alberto Contador was crowned Spanish national time trial champion on Friday as he tested out his new machine for the Tour de France. Contador, who rides for the Astana team, completed the 47.8km course between Torrelavega and Cuevas de Altamira in 1 hour, 4 minutes and 40 seconds. The 2007 Tour de France champion finished 37 seconds ahead of Luis Leon Sanchez and 1 minute, 5 seconds ahead of Ruben Plaza. Astana, which includes seven-time yellow jersey champion Lance Armstrong, will be one of the teams to beat at the Tour de France between next Saturday and July 26. The race includes two individual time trials as well as a team time trial on stage four.
■SWIMMING
Samulski breaks record
Germany’s Daniela Samulski broke the women’s 50m backstroke world record with a time of 27.61 seconds at a meeting in Berlin on Friday. Samulski’s time beat the mark of 27.67 set by Sophie Edington in March last year. Russia’s Anastasia Zueva has swum faster than that mark three times this year, but without having the record ratified by FINA. Zueva swam 27.48 and 27.47 seconds at the Russian championships in April, but FINA said this week the times had not been ratified because they were set with a non-approved swimsuit. The Russian also clocked 27.56 in Monaco this month, but that has not been ratified either, with the swimmer reportedly not undergoing a drug test because the time was not considered a record in the light of her earlier performances.
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