■CRICKET
Aussies wrap up series win
Australia beat the West Indies by 35 runs in the third Test at Perth yesterday to wrap up a 2-0 series win. West Indies’ hopes rested on last-wicket pair Kemar Roach and Gavin Tonge, who needed to score 51 runs for victory, but Australia needed just three-and-a-half overs before Roach was caught behind off the bowling of Doug Bollinger. It was the West Indies’ fifth successive Test series defeat against Australia.
■BASEBALL
Reds extend Rolen contract
The Cincinnati Reds have restructured third baseman Scott Rolen’s contract and extended it by another two seasons, the team said on Saturday. Rolen was originally signed up until next year, earning US$11 million for that season, but has agreed to play through to the end of 2012 for an extra US$13 million. Under the terms of the new deal, the 34-year-old would earn US$6 million next year plus US$6.5 million for each of the next two seasons as well as a US$5 million signing bonus deferred over the length of the contract.
■GOLF
Martin retains lead
Spaniard Pablo Martin stayed on track for back-to-back European Tour victories despite scrambling to a level-par 72 in the third round of the South African Open on Saturday. Winner of the Alfred Dunhill Championship last weekend, Martin leads Italian Edoardo Molinari by one stroke entering the final round at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pearl Valley Golf Estate course near Cape Town. Martin stands on 205 while Molinari fired a second consecutive 69 in the second of four tournaments during December and January co-sanctioned by the South African Sunshine Tour. Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed (68), Dane Anders Hansen (72) and South African James Kingston (69) were on 207.
■GOLF
Ishikawa ‘lets it rip’
Record-breaking Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa fired a warning he may be about to add power to his game by smashing a drive 367 yards in an exhibition tournament. “I just let it rip,” Ishikawa told yesterday’s Sankei Sports newspaper following the event in Okinawa. “My target was 350 yards. I took a bigger swing than I usually do in tournaments and gave it the biggest whack I have all year. I’m well happy with that.” The 18-year-old averaged just over 290 yards during this year’s Japanese season when he won four tournaments and became the country’s youngest order of merit winner, but the multi-millionaire schoolboy still sees distance off the tee as a slight weakness to his game. To help improve his distance, he had a special driver designed for him that cost Japanese sports maker Yonex more than US$1 million to develop.
■SOCCER
Oldie attempts comeback
Former Japan striker Masashi Nakayama, the J-League’s record goal scorer, is struggling to find a new club at the ripe old age of 42. Nakayama, famous for scoring Japan’s first World Cup finals goal in 1998, has been turned down by semi-professional Nagasaki, the Japan Football League club said yesterday. The forward’s search for new employers has been met with a frosty reception, with front offices unwilling to take a risk during tough economic times for Japanese clubs. Surplus to requirements at J-League first division side Jubilo Iwata, where he has played since making his pro debut in 1990, Nakayama’s options are running out. Japanese second division sides Sapporo and Kumamoto are the clubs his agents are targeting, local media reported.
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