■ICE HOCKEY
Canucks president quits
Vancouver Canucks president and CEO Chris Zimmerman is stepping down for family reasons, the team said on Tuesday. “I have made the very difficult decision to resign my position with Canucks Sports & Entertainment and relocate my family back to the eastern United States,” Zimmerman, who has been in Vancouver for three years, said in a statement on the team Web site. General manager Mike Gillis will replace him as the team president.
■ICE HOCKEY
Roenick expected to retire
Jeremy Roenick, an American center for the San Jose Sharks who has spent the past 20 years in the National Hockey League, is expected to announce his retirement today. The Sharks have scheduled a news conference and multiple reports say Roenick, 39, will hang up his skates after the worst season of his career. Roenick, a two-time Olympian, scored only four goals in 42 games during the 2008-2009 NHL season and missed more than two months of the campaign following shoulder surgery in December.
■BASKETBALL
Opener to feature Cavs
NBA fans curious to see how Shaquille O’Neal fares with LeBron James as a teammate will get an early look when the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Boston Celtics to open the league’s 2009-2010 season on Oct. 27. The Cavaliers acquired the 37-year-old O’Neal during the off-season hoping the 15 times All-Star center and future Hall of Famer will help capture their first title. The finale of a four-game opening day schedule sees the Los Angeles Lakers start the defense of their title by hosting the LA Clippers, who selected dynamic power forward Blake Griffin with the top pick in the 2009 Draft. On Christmas Day, Los Angeles will host Cleveland, a highly anticipated match-up featuring 2007-2008 league MVP Kobe Bryant of the Lakers and reigning MVP James. The Lakers will face the Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic twice, the NBA said on Tuesday when it released the schedule.
■ATHLETICS
Brazilians fail doping tests
Five Brazilian athletes training in Germany for this month’s world championships have failed out-of-competition doping tests and will return home, the Brazilian Athletics Confederation (CBAt) said. A CBAt statement said that heptathlete Lucimara Silvestre and sprinters Bruno Lins Tenorio, Jorge Celio Sena, Josiane Tito and Luciana Franca and had tested positive for the banned substance Recombinant EPO. The CBAt said the five had asked for the B sample to be tested and would return home to await the outcome.
■FORMULA ONE
Massa recovering well
Felipe Massa was allowed to leave a local hospital on Tuesday after making “a remarkable recovery” from life-threatening head injuries sustained in a crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix on July 25. The Ferrari driver Massa went home after extensive examinations at the Albert Einstein clinic in Sao Paulo where he arrived on Monday from Hungary. Massa, 28, underwent surgery on a multiple skull fractures in a Budapest clinic. He sustained the injuries when he was hit on the helmet by a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP car and crashed
into a tire wall. He spent nine days in the AEK military hospital in the Hungarian capital. “Felipe has had a remarkable recovery,” his personal doctor Dino Altmann said in a statement on Massa’s Web site.
■SOCCER
Pensions anger veterans
Members of India’s 1956 Olympics soccer squad have accused the national federation of treating them like “beggars” and have decided to return checks received from the governing body, Indian media reported on Wednesday. Nine surviving members of the team that reached the semi-finals in Melbourne had suggested the federation started a pension scheme for former internationals. However, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) last month sent them checks for 25,000 rupees (US$525). “We are not beggars that the national federation would be doling out a pitiful grant 53 years after our achievement,” an angry Samar Banerjee, captain of the team, told reporters.
■SOCCER
Argentine kickoff on hold
The kickoff to the Argentine soccer season was put on hold indefinitely on Tuesday while the game’s national governing body sought a solution to clubs’ massive debts. “The executive committee of the AFA [Argentina Football Association] resolved unanimously tonight [Tuesday] that the championships in all categories should not start on the scheduled dates,” said a statement posted on the AFA Web site, www.afa.org.ar. It said the AFA needed to search for a proper and well-founded solution to the problem of clubs’ debts.
■SOCCER
Muslims fret over anthem
Bundesliga club Schalke has asked a scholar of Islam to look into complaints sent to the club by Muslims angered by what they see as the lampooning of the Prophet Mohammed in a verse in the club’s decades-old anthem. The verse — which also caused short-lived protests in 1997 — refers to the Prophet Mohammed, who it says knew nothing about soccer but picked the colors blue and white, the Schalke colors. The club has received hundreds of e-mails and letters of complaint and has contacted police and state security, club spokesman Thomas Spiegel told German media.
■RUGBY UNION
Mealamu ruptures muscle
The All Blacks suffered a further setback yesterday when hooker Keven Mealamu was ruled out for the rest of the year with a ruptured chest muscle. The 71-Test veteran was injured after he came on as a replacement in the Tri-Nations Test against the Springboks in Durban last weekend. In a disappointing week for the All Blacks in South Africa they lost both Tests, failed to win even a bonus point, and were toppled from their world No. 1 ranking. They have now suffered three losses from six outings this year and are only halfway through the season. The loss of Mealamu will put further pressure on the already depleted front row ranks with the Chiefs rake Aled de Malmanche likely to deputise for first-string hooker Andrew Hore. All Blacks doctor Deb Robinson said Mealamu had undergone a chest scan after returning from South Africa and it confirmed he had ruptured his pectoralis major tendon on the left side of his chest.
■FORMULA ONE
Brawn accused of speeding
The head of Formula One’s Brawn GP team could be banned from driving after being accused of breaking the speed limit on a public road. Police accuse Ross Brawn of driving his Mercedes on May 30 at 161kph on a road in southwest England where the limit is 70mph (113kph). The 54-year-old Brawn was due to appear in court on Tuesday, but the case was rescheduled for Sept. 4 because he is overseas ahead of his team’s races in Spain and Belgium.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and