■SOCCER
Kolo Toure moves to City
Kolo Toure became Manchester City’s latest big-money signing on Wednesday as the Ivory Coast defender completed his move from Arsenal. The 28-year-old passed a medical before putting pen to paper on a four-year contract worth an estimated £100,000 (US$164,000) a week. “Manchester City are delighted to announce that Kolo Toure has joined from Arsenal,” a statement on City’s Web site confirmed. The central defender, who spent seven years with the Gunners, has signed a four-year contract and becomes the sixth summer signing.
■ICE HOCKEY
NHL nixes Balsillie bid
The National Hockey League (NHL) on Wednesday rejected Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie’s application for ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team, but gave its approval to two groups vying to buy the bankrupt club. The North American sports league said owners unanimously approved the application of sports tycoon Jerry Reinsdorf and ruled incomplete the filing by a group of investors under the name Ice Edge Holdings. But the league said Ice Edge could continue its efforts to buy the team. The NHL, which does not want Basillie moving the Coyotes to Canada, said in a terse statement owners voted unanimously not to approve the application from the co-CEO of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.
■NASCAR
Stepmother sues Mayfield
Jeremy Mayfield’s stepmother sued the suspended NASCAR driver on Wednesday, claiming he made slanderous, false and defamatory statements. In civil court papers filed in Iredell County civil court in North Caolina, Lisa Mayfield argues her stepson falsely accused her of killing his father and taking money from NASCAR. She’s seeking compensatory and punitive damages of more than US$10,000 each and “further relief as the Court may deem just and proper.” Jeremy Mayfield’s comments in several interviews came after his stepmother signed an affidavit claiming she witnessed him taking methamphetamine at least 30 times over seven years.
■SOCCER
Bayern humiliate AC Milan
Bayern Munich humiliated Italian giants AC Milan 4-1 in Berlin on Wednesday as they set up an Audi Cup final date with English champions Manchester United. A double from promising youngster Thomas Muller and a goal apiece from German international midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and Frenchman Saer Sene saw Bayern to an ultimately easy victory over Milan. Earlier Manchester United had disposed of Argentinian side Boca Juniors 2-1.
■SOCCER
Everton beat MLS All-Stars
English Premier League club Everton wrapped up its North American preseason tour in Sandy, Utah, by becoming the first international side to beat the Major League Soccer All-Stars on Wednesday, prevailing in a penalty shootout. After the game ended 1-1, all penalties were converted until former Arsenal winger Freddie Ljungberg tried to outwit Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard with a soft chip shot up the middle, but it was blocked. Ljungberg, now of the Seattle Sounders, was carried off the field after the shootout due to a severe headache. He was taken to hospital for evaluation, according to the MLS. The All-Stars had won all five previous matches against visiting teams, four from the Premier League.
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