■TAEKWONDO
Olympian to open brothel
A New Zealand athlete has turned to prostitution to fund his London Olympics bid, it was reported yesterday. Logan Campbell, who finished in the top 16 in the taekwondo featherweight division at the Beijing Olympics, has set up a “high-class gentleman’s club” in Auckland, the Sunday Star Times said. Campbell’s Beijing campaign had cost about NZ$150,000 (US$93,000), most of which came from his parents, and he said he was sick of relying on them for help so had set up the brothel. Licensed prostitution is legal in New Zealand. Taekwondo New Zealand (TNZ) was unenthusiastic about the move, saying it would be taken into account when considering him for international selection. “Selection takes into account not just performance but also the athlete’s ability to serve as an example to the youth of the country,” TNZ funding manager John Scholfield told the newspaper. Campbell said he would launch his London bid in 2011, by which time he hoped to have earned NZ$300,000 from the brothel. With a hefty amount of funding behind him, Campbell believes he will be a serious medal contender in London after being beaten in Beijing by eventual bronze medalist Sung Yu-chi of Taiwan.
■HOCKEY
Gretzky fights tax info request
Lawyers for Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky are trying to keep his personal finances out of the NHL team’s bankruptcy case. Responding to a motion by the City of Glendale to review Gretzky’s income tax returns, Gretzky’s attorneys argue that he is a California resident and is entitled to that state’s privacy protections. They also say his personal finances aren’t relevant to the complicated legal battle over the team’s sale. Glendale “has not demonstrated and cannot demonstrate that its need for disclosure of Mr Gretzky’s personal financial information outweighs any privacy claim by Mr Gretzky in such information,” a filing by Gretzky’s lawyers said. “Mr Gretzky has a clear interest in maintaining the privacy of his financial records, and his privacy interest is one that outweighs [Glendale’s] need for disclosure of Mr Gretzky’s personal tax records,” the filing said.
■FIELD HOCKEY
Argentina beat Aussies
Josefina Sruoga scored on the stroke of half-time yesterday to give defending champions Argentina a 1-0 victory over Australia for a second straight win at the Champions Trophy women’s tournament. Earlier, Germany beat England 3-1 to even their record at 1-1. In the other match yesterday, the Netherlands beat China 1-0. Australia coach Frank Murray said his side lost concentration late in the first half. “They got a soft goal right at half-time ... so it’s something that we’ve got to learn from,” Murray said. “The thing they need to understand is how to play the next minute of the game and there wasn’t enough experience there to stand them in good stead at that point.”
■RUGBY UNION
Canada clinch Cup berth
Canada routed the US 41-18 to clinch a berth in the 2011 Rugby World Cup on Saturday. Canada outscored the US 47-30 in the two-game series. Canada will join tournament host New Zealand, France, Tonga and an Asian qualifier in Pool A. Canada lost 12-6 last week in Charleston, South Carolina and had to win by seven points on Saturday. The US face a two-game series against Uruguay to determine the Americas second qualifier for Pool C, although the loser will still have another chance to qualify in cross-continent playoffs next year.
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