■SOCCER
Ronaldo faces DNA test
A Brazilian court has ordered dual World Cup winner Ronaldo to take a DNA test to resolve a paternity dispute. The demand was made after a Brazilian resident of Singapore claimed Ronaldo was the father of her four-year-old boy. Speaking about her child, Michele Umrazu, 27, said: “His hair, his eyes, his nose are the same as Ronaldo’s.” According to reports the woman had up to now believed her child’s father was her ex-fiance, an American, but when he agreed to a paternity test it came back negative. Michele Umrazu’s mother told Brazil’s Quem magazine that her daughter and Ronaldo had first met at the 2002 World Cup in Tokyo, meeting up again in August 2004, nine months before the baby was born.
■BASEBALL
Umpire hit by three fouls
Baseball umpire Marty Foster was struck by three foul balls on Wednesday and was taken for X-rays on his swollen and bruised left arm after San Francisco’s 5-2 victory over Arizona in Phoenix. Foster was hit twice on the arm and once in the mask, but he never left the game. He said X-rays were negative, but added he was to be seen again by a doctor later on Wednesday night for further evaluation on a stiff neck.
■CHESS
Kasparov leads Karpov 3-1
Garry Kasparov stretched his lead over Anatoly Karpov to 3-1 on Wednesday on the second day of an exhibition chess match commemorating the 25th anniversary of their marathon first title bout. Karpov, 58, won his first game of the unofficial tournament, which is being played in Valencia, Spain, after Kasparov abandoned the game. Kasparov, 46, rebounded to win the second game as Karpov ran out of time. On Tuesday, Kasparov won the first two semi-rapid games as Karpov struggled to manage his time.
■ICE HOCKEY
Coyotes to stay in Phoenix
The troubled Phoenix Coyotes franchise isn’t off to Canada any time soon following an emergency bankruptcy hearing in a US court on Wednesday. The Coyotes will play the 2009-2010 regular season at Glendale arena while the staff, coaches and players await the outcome of competing auction bids, including one from Canadian business tycoon Jim Balsillie. Balsillie, who wants to eventually move the team to Hamilton, Ontario, told the courts that he would keep the club in Phoenix this season if he won the auction.
The bankrupt National Hockey League franchise has been bleeding red ink since being moved to Arizona from Winnepeg in 1996.
■BADMINTON
No. 1 Lee loses in Japan
World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia failed to live up to his pre-match promise, losing to Indonesia’s Simon Santoso in the Japan Open badminton tournament in Tokyo yesterday. The top seed, who has been struggling with his old left knee injury, worked hard in the final game, clawing back from 5-12 to 19-19 before finally surrendering 19-21, 21-15, 21-19 in the second round. Lee, the champion in Tokyo in 2007, quickly left the court for treatment to his knee without talking to reporters. With the win, Santoso set up a clash against defending champion and teammate Soni Dwi Kuncoro, the winner over China’s Chen Long 21-19, 15-21, 21-14. In the women’s action, the 2007 champion Tine Rasmussen of Denmark crashed to China’s Wang Xin 15-21, 21-15, 21-14, but other seeds, China’s Wang Lin and Wang Yihan, and Pi Hongyan of France safely went through.
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