■ATHLETICS
Bekele wants record
Twice Olympic 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele has his sights set on setting a fourth world indoor record in Birmingham, England, next year. The Ethiopian will race the 3,000m, the distance at which he won his only world indoor title in 2006, at the Feb. 20 Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) where he has run three of his five personal best times on the indoor circuit. “Five years ago I broke the world record in the 5,000 at the NIA and I also broke the 2,000 and two-mile records at the same arena, so it’s definitely a track I enjoy running on,” Bekele said in a statement from the organizers. The three indoor world records he set in Birmingham all still stand and the Ethiopian’s familiarity with the track gives him good reason to believe he can claim another mark. “Now I hope to break my fourth world record there, this time in the 3,000,” the 27-year-old said.
■FOOTBALL
Haynesworth sent home
Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was sent home from practice on Friday for “disciplinary reasons.” Coach Jim Zorn did not specify why he ordered Haynesworth to leave the training session, but several teammates said it was because he arrived late. “He wasn’t belligerent or nasty to me, and I was not nasty to him. It was just something that needed to be done,” Zorn told the NFL team’s Web site. “So I handled things the way I felt I should, and he’ll be back tomorrow [Saturday] and he’ll be ready to go and play in the game [today against the Dallas Cowboys].” Zorn told reporters that while Haynesworth would play against the Cowboys, he may not start the game. It was the second time this week Haynesworth had been in trouble. He was fined US$10,000 by the NFL on Thursday for scuffling with New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs on Monday.
■SPEEDSKATING
Sponsor yens for gold
The sponsor of a Japanese speedskating team has pledged ¥20 million (US$219,100) to any of its athletes who win a gold medal at next year’s Olympic games. Nidec Sankyo Corp, an electronic component maker that runs a speed skating team, has doubled its prize from the 2006 Olympics, team boss Shigehara Arai said on Thursday. “I want it to be enough to build a splendid home,” said company president Kazuyoshi Yasukawa, who was quoted in the Yomiuri Shimbun. Speedskaters employed by Nidec include Japanese ace Joji Kato, former world record holder and world champion in the men’s 500m, and Sayuri Yoshii, who was ninth in the women’s 500m at the last winter Olympics. Nidec will also pay ¥10 million for a silver medal and ¥6 million for a bronze. Yasukawa is putting up half of the prize money himself, with the company providing the rest.
■BASEBALL
Ex-Dodger sues ex-Dodger
Park Chan-ho sued his former Los Angeles Dodger batterymate Chad Kreuter, accusing him of failing to pay off a US$460,000 loan. Park filed the suit on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming breach of promissory note and negligent misrepresentation. The suit claims Park loaned Kreuter US$460,000 in October 2005 to be repaid a year later with interest. Park alleges Kreuter paid US$290,000 in April 2007 and the balance has grown, with interest, to US$281,870 as of Dec. 1. Park is a free agent after playing for the Philadelphia Phillies last year. Kreuter retired in 2003. The men played on the Dodgers in 2000-2001. Attempts to reach Kreuter were unsuccessful.
■CRICKET
Tanvir out of ‘Big Bash’
Pakistan’s all-rounder Sohail Tanvir pulled out of a contract with Australian side Victoria on Friday after doctors advised him to rest an injured knee. The 25-year-old was due to play for the Bushrangers in the Australian Twenty20 tournament, known as the “Big Bash,” but he has instead informed the Australian side of his unavailability after taking medical advice. “Tanvir had to pull out of his contract with Cricket Victoria, as he has been further advised by doctors to make sure his knee injury is properly healed,” a statement from his agents said. They added that the healing process may need two to three weeks. Tanvir, who last year turned out for South Australia in the event, has recently recovered from back trouble and a knee injury that forced him out of the Pakistan team. The lanky left-arm paceman’s ambitions to play for Surrey in the English season also failed to materialize earlier this year. “As much as I feel really good on my fitness, I have to listen to the advice of my doctors at the Pakistan Cricket Board,” Tanvir was quoted as saying in the statement.
■CRICKET
Tendulkar to miss tri-series
Batting world record holder Sachin Tendulkar has opted out of next month’s limited-overs tri-series in Bangladesh, the Indian cricket board said yesterday. Tendulkar, 36, was not named in India’s 16-man squad for the tri-series, also featuring Sri Lanka, which will be played in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka from Jan. 4 to Jan. 13. Tendulkar will, however, be available for the two Test matches against Bangladesh that follow the tri-series, cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement. “Sachin Tendulkar desired to be rested for the tri-series in Bangladesh. He will play the Tests against Bangladesh,” Srinivasan said. The selectors also dropped seamers Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar, and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for the tri-series. They were replaced by seamers Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Ashok Dinda, and leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Batsman Rohit Sharma, who did not figure in the ongoing one-day series against Sri Lanka, was recalled.
■SOCCER
Forget Levein, players told
Dundee United caretaker manager Peter Houston has told his players to put Craig Levein’s departure out of their minds and focus instead on their game with Kilmarnock. Levein was installed as Scotland manager on Wednesday, leaving Houston in charge for the Kilmarnock game. “Time moves on and, in football, people move on,” Houston said. “Craig’s done well and moved on to a new job. It’s done now and everyone at Tannadice just needs to look forward.” Houston, a long-term assistant to Levein, will be in charge at United for the next three weeks. “Craig always told the players we didn’t want them here forever — hopefully they’d get good enough and move on,” Houston said. “The same has applied to him.”
■SOCCER
Bougherra to miss derby
Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers were dealt a blow on Friday when their Algerian international defender Madjid Bougherra was ruled out of facing bitter rivals Celtic next Sunday. The Algerian soccer federation announced that any of its England and Scotland-based players, due to take part in the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, could only fulfill their club commitments until Wednesday. Bougherra can play for Rangers today against Hibernian, but not against Celtic, despite pressure from Rangers boss Walter Smith.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier