■SUMO
Champ skips training again
Controversial sumo champion Asashoryu is in hot water again after skipping training because he did not want to risk catching swine flu on a bus. The Mongolian yokozuna told Japanese media yesterday he would take the matter up with the wrestlers’ union after being reprimanded for a morning no-show over the weekend. “[The infected wrestlers] were on the same bus which was a reason,” said Asashoryu, adding that the Japan Sumo Association had done little to protect wrestlers from infection. “What they say and what they do are two different things. I want them to think hard to come up with a way to protect us [from risk].” Around 30 wrestlers and sumo officials have caught the flu over the past 10 days. Wrestlers and sumo fans have been wearing flu masks as a precaution against the outbreak. “Our livelihoods are at stake here,” fumed the 28-year-old Asashoryu. “I’ll be taking it up with the union.” Asashoryu was criticized for skipping morning training ahead of a major tournament in Nagoya recently amid the break-up of his marriage.
■RUGBY UNION
Waratahs sign Anesi
NSW Waratahs have signed Waikato Chiefs fullback Sosene Anesi on a one-year deal, New South Wales Rugby Union said yesterday. Anesi, who played his only Test for New Zealand in 2005 against Fiji, came back from a shoulder injury to play the last five games of the Super 14 season with the Chiefs, who ended second in the southern hemisphere competition. “This is a significant signing for us,” Waratahs head coach Chris Hickey said in a statement. “They don’t just give away All Blacks jerseys, so to secure a New Zealand Test player is pretty exciting for us as a team, and indeed the whole organization.” Anesi joins a revamped Waratahs backline for next year’s campaign, including Australia internationals Berrick Barnes and Drew Mitchell, former ACT Brumbies’ half-back Josh Holmes and Australia under-21 center Rory Sidey.
■GOLF
Asian Tour signs TV deal
The Asian Tour has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Sky Sports to broadcast golf tournaments in Britain and Ireland, the Tour said yesterday, a week after Yang Yong-eun became the continent’s first men’s major champion. Britain’s dominant pay-TV sports broadcaster, owned by BSkyB, already shows Asian Tour events co-sanctioned by the European Tour and will now add the Macau Open, Malaysia’s Iskandar Johor Open and the Cambodian Open to this year’s schedule. “With Korea’s Yang Yong-eun’s historic victory at the US PGA Championship ... the Asian Tour’s reputation for cultivating world beaters has been strengthened,” the tour said in a statement. The deal is a boost for Asian Tour as it battles over the future of regional golf with the OneAsia Tour, which was launched this year with the aim of becoming an elite platform in the region.
■FREEDIVING
Daredevil swims cave
Daredevil aquanaut Mike Wells on Sunday claimed a world record for freediving after swimming the 120m of Fish Rock Cave on Australia’s east coast on just a single breath. The 39-year-old professional diver from Sydney swam down 14m to get into the cave, then maneuvered through an exit where the gap in places was no wider than his 1m monofin, before popping up the 24m to the surface. Wells claimed the title after several failed attempts over two weeks where he resorted to buddy breathing from an accompanying scuba diver.
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