■ATHLETICS
Ethiopian runner arrested
Police in Ethiopia confirmed on Saturday they had arrested former Olympic bronze medalist Fita Bayisa after he allegedly shot his wife in a row over property. The 36-year-old athlete, who won bronze in the 5,000m at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, was detained last Monday hours after the incident took place in Alem Gena — 6km west of Addis Ababa. A local newspaper said the couple, who have five children, were embroiled in a legal battle over the ownership of a kindergarten school. The paper said the un-named wife remained in a stable condition in a hospital.
■BASEBALL
Indians make pro debuts
Two former aspiring cricket players who won a reality show in India have made their professional baseball debuts. Left-hander Rinku Singh and right-hander Dinesh Patel, neither of whom had heard of baseball before appearing on The Million Dollar Arm, each got a strikeout for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Rookie-level minor league team. Singh, who came in first on the show, allowed one run and two hits in one inning of work, throwing 19 pitches. Patel, who was second, threw eight pitches in a scoreless inning. The show tried to find cricket players who could throw the most pitches 85mph or faster for strikes.
■BASKETBALL
FIBA orders payments
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) have ordered Bulgarian champions Lukoil Academic to pay two former players nearly US$285,000 in unpaid salaries and lawsuit expenses, the club said. Former Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Stevin Smith and Serbian guard Nenad Djoric filed for compensation over delays in salary payments after leaving the club last year. The 17-time Bulgarian champions must pay Smith US$183,033 and Djoric US$101,887, with FIBA ruling that Lukoil were not allowed to sign new players until the payments had been made. Lukoil sporting director Sasho Vezenkov said the club would appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
■BOXING
Moreno retains title
Anselmo Moreno of Panama retained his WBA bantamweight title Saturday with a split decision over Frenchman Mahyar Monshipour in Poitiers, France. Moreno (26-1-1) kept his composure as Monshipour pressured strongly between the eighth and 10th rounds. Two of the judges scored the bout 116-113 and 116-112 in favor of Moreno, while the third gave the fight to Monshipour 115-113. Moreno, whose only loss was in 2002, started strongly, catching Monshipour with a left hook in the first round and a several sharp jabs in the second. The Panamanian got caught with a couple of shots, but used his speed and longer reach to keep Monshipour at bay.
■SAILING
Alinghi unveil catamaran
Alinghi of Switzerland has confirmed it will use a giant catamaran when it defends the America’s Cup against bitter US rival BMW Oracle Racing early next year. The catamaran is 27m long on the waterline. The high-tech craft was built in Villeneuve, Switzerland, and will be launched by helicopter on Lake Geneva this coming week before undergoing testing. Alinghi and BMW Oracle Racing of San Francisco are scheduled to meet in a best-of-3 series in February in massive multihulls. Alinghi gets to pick the venue. It reportedly is considering Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where its catamaran could excel in light wind and flat water.
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
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