■CRICKET
Expert checks ‘signatures’
A leading expert is checking signatures by late legend Donald Bradman sold by ex-England player Dermot Reeve that are said to be too messy to be genuine, the Bradman Foundation said yesterday. Licensed valuer Chris Anderson is studying the signatures, which were bought by a trusted memorabilia-maker who works with Australia’s official Bradman Museum, a spokeswoman said. “He was a very careful writer — he had beautiful handwriting,” the museum’s marketing manager Joanne Crowley said. She said Reeve sold the signatures to John Alvarez, who was creating replica signed cricket bats to be sold on the centenary of Bradman’s birth last year. “This is not about trying to discredit Mr Reeve, it’s about trying to protect Sir Donald Bradman’s name and intellectual property,” she said. Reeve, a former Wisden cricketer of the year who once owned a memorabilia shop, told the Daily Telegraph he would “never knowingly pass an item on if I did not believe it to be authentic.” Crowley said while the case was still in dispute, unreliable Bradman memorabilia was becoming prolific.
■SOCCER
Cannavaro in the clear
The doping case against defender Fabio Cannavaro was dropped by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) yesterday and the Italy captain said he did nothing wrong and was bothered by the public outrage his positive test sparked. CONI’s anti-doping court made the move after prosecutor Ettore Torri questioned Cannavaro last week and ascertained that the positive test was a result of cortisone used to treat a bee sting. “My conscious is clean,” Cannavaro said after joining Italy’s team to prepare for a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus. “You get stung by a bee and you end up seeing yourself in the paper treated like a doper,’’ Cannavaro said, according to ANSA news agency. “I thought I was dreaming. Some papers and TV stations took it too far,” he said. Cortisone can be administered if authorization for therapeutic needs is granted beforehand, and it was unclear if Juventus received CONI’s permission.Juventus and club physician Bartolomeo Goitre could still be sanctioned by CONI.
■ATHLETICS
Wanjiru wins in Chicago
Kenya’s Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru won the Chicago marathon on Sunday, toppling the course record to set the fastest mark ever on US soil. The 22-year-old, who also won the London marathon in April, completed Chicago’s flat course on a chilly day under cloudy skies in 2:05:41. Wanjiru picked up US$75,000 and an additional US$100,000 bonus for setting the course record, trimming one second off the mark set by Khalid Khannouchi in 1999. But hopes he might beat the world record of 2:03:59 set in Berlin last year by Haile Gebrselassie proved optimistic. Second place on Sunday went to Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri in 2:06:04 with Vincent Kipruto of Kenya third in 2:06:08. The women’s race was won easily by Liliya Shobukhova of Russia in 2:25:55.
■SOCCER
Buffon faces knee op
Veteran Italian international Gianluigi Buffon is planning to have a knee operation in December, if he can keep going until then, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported yesterday. The 31-year-old goalkeeper would be out for more than a month. “He will be operated on during the Christmas break from the league and as the recovery time for an exterior meniscus operation is 30 to 40 days, he should be back playing in early February,” the daily said.
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