■JUDO
Wang, Nakamura win gold
South Korea’s Wang Ki-chun retained his under-73kg title at the world judo championships on Thursday, while Japan’s Misato Nakamura clinched the women’s under-52kg crown. Olympic Games silver medalist Wang was the favorite going into the tournament, having won the Paris and Moscow Grand Slam titles this season, and claimed his victory over North Korea’s Kim Choi-su. Nakamura, who saw off Chinese favorite He Hongmei in the quarter-finals, added world gold to her bronze medal from the Beijing Olympics. She achieved victory with a waza-ari over Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy. In the women’s under-57kg division, France’s Morgane Ribout took gold, beating Telma Monteiro of Portugal with a yuko.
■CYCLING
Van Der Ploeg wins in Dili
A tense duel between Australian cyclists marked the climax to the grueling Tour de Timor yesterday, with Neil Van Der Ploeg pedaling to victory despite a narrow loss in the final stage. Van Der Ploeg, a 21-year-old student, lost by a few meters in the final 92.5km haul back to East Timor’s capital Dili to fellow Australian Mark Frendo, who came third overall. Another Australian, Benjamin Grieve-Johnson, came second in the five-day, 450km, all-amateur race across the tiny half-island. The race, the first of its kind in the tiny country, is part of celebrations of the 10th anniversary tomorrow of East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia.
■ICE HOCKEY
Patrick Kane pleads guilty
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and his cousin pleaded guilty to a noncriminal charge of disorderly conduct on Thursday and were ordered to send an apology to the cab driver they were accused of roughing up over 20 cents. The 20-year-old player and his 21-year-old cousin, James Kane, were given conditional discharges, meaning they will avoid any penalties if they stay out of trouble for a year and write apologies to cabbie Jan Radecki. “Obviously, I’m in a little different situation than most kids at this age, but at the same time I think it’s definitely been a learning lesson and something I want to move forward on,” Kane told City Court Judge Thomas Amodeo.
■RUGBY UNION
Emtage quits the Reds
Troubled Australian Super 14 club Queensland Reds suffered a further setback yesterday when assistant coach Damon Emtage left to take up a job as a school teacher. Emtage, who served as backs coach, is the latest in a growing line of staff to ditch the Reds, including international playmaker Berrick Barnes, chief executive Ken Freer, chairman Peter Lewis and high-performance manager Ben Whitaker. Meanwhile, assistant Australia coach Richard Graham announced he was joining the Western Force on a two-year-deal. Graham will continue in his role with the Wallabies’ head coach Robbie Deans, but will combine his national duties with Super 14.
■FOOTBALL
Judges backs Vick’s plan
Michael Vick was relieved to have a US$20 million bankruptcy reorganization plan approved by a federal judge on Thursday, hours before his return to the National Football League. A vote by creditors showed overwhelming endorsement of the plan which was approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro ahead of Vick’s comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles after serving jail time for funding a dogfight ring. “I’m moving on with my life,” Vick said as he departed the court room. “I’m glad to get it all done and I’m hoping to move forward.”
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