■BOXING
Frustrated Asloum retires
Former Olympic boxing champion Brahim Asloum of France said on Sunday he was retiring because he was frustrated at not being able to fight. “I still want to [box] but I have to stop because it has become impossible to organise a boxing event in France,” Asloum, who is involved in a legal dispute with French TV channel and fight promoters Canal Plus, told the France 2 channel. Asloum, 30, became France’s first Olympic boxing champion in 64 years when he won the light-flyweight title in 2000 in Sydney. He won the World Boxing Association title in that same division in 2007.
■BADMINTON
Xie Xingfang to retire
Chinese badminton queen Xie Xingfang is likely to hang up her racquet following October’s National Games after failing to land a third world singles title in India last month. But her boyfriend, world No. 1 Lin Dan, will continue playing, state media reported. Xie has been a dominant shuttler over the past decade, but missing out on Beijing Olympic gold and another title at the world championships convinced her to quit. “Xie is veteran player and she was a good role model for a young team,” national team coach Li Yongbo was quoted as saying in the China Daily. “She had done everything she could, so she chose to retire from international competition after the world championships. “Xie has proved she is one of the best players in the world. We respect her decision. The October National Games are likely to be her last tournament.”
■SOCCER
Czech player dies on field
A 31-year-old soccer playing in a Czech regional league died of a heart attack during a game on Saturday shortly after scoring an own goal, the CTK news agency reported on Sunday. Nine minutes into the game between two villages northwest of Prague, defender Michal Jezek slammed the ball into his own net, then “collapsed on the pitch,” CTK quoted another player as saying. “He didn’t seem to have a health problem at all,” he said. Doctors summoned to the scene were unable to save him. “He had a heart attack and unfortunately we weren’t able to resuscitate him,” ambulance spokeswoman Tereza Janeckova told the idnes.cz Web site, which said Jezek was married and left a six-month-old daughter.
■HOCKEY
Czechs win Czech Games
Jiri Hudler scored three goals as the Czech Republic edged Russia 3-2 after a penalty shootout on Sunday to win the Czech Hockey Games. The 25-year-old Hudler, who played for the Detroit Red Wings last season, tied the score 2-2 with his second goal with just 2:39 left, forcing overtime. It was the Czechs’ first win in the Czech Hockey Games in 10 years and the first on the European Hockey Tour since winning in Moscow in 2002. Hudler, who had 57 points in 82 games with Detroit last season and who now plays with Dynamo Moscow, finished with five goals in three games to top the tournament. Russia, the defending Euro Tour and world champion, finished second, followed by Finland and Sweden.
■ATHLETICS
College pole vaulter dies
A US college pole vaulter has died after striking his head on the pavement during a training jump at the University of California San Diego. Leon Roach fell head first on the concrete after missing the landing pad on Saturday, the San Diego coroner’s office said. The 19-year-old was taken to hospital where he was pronounced brain dead.
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