■BASKETBALL
Stumbling Artest concussed
Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest tripped over a box and fell down a flight of stairs at his home on Christmas night, suffering a concussion and left elbow injury, the team said on Saturday. Hours after being outplayed by Cleveland’s LeBron James and fouling out with only 13 points in a 102-87 loss to the Cavaliers on Friday, Artest suffered injuries that required stitches on his elbow and the back of his head. It’s unknown when Artest might return to the defending NBA champions lineup.
■ICE HOCKEY
Alfredsson out for 4-6 weeks
Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, a key player in Sweden’s 2006 Olympic gold medal run, will be out four to six weeks with a separated left shoulder that could jeopardize his Olympic hopes for next year. The Senators announced late on Saturday that Alfredsson will join a huge injury list for the club, possibly missing every game until the NHL’s February break for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The 37-year-old right wing figures to be a stalwart on the Swedish team and should be back in time for the Olympics, but his longest recovery time would bring him back barely a week before the Olympic final roster deadline.
■ICE HOCKEY
Russian star inks new deal
One day after being named in the Russian Olympic squad, Washington Capitals left wing Alexander Semin inked a one-year contract extension with the National Hockey League club. The 25-year-old playmaker, who together with countryman Alex Ovechkin have led the Capitals to the NHL’s highest point total so far this season, has 122 career goals and 126 assists in five NHL seasons. “He’s one of the elite players in the league and to have him is great,” Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. Semin, who will now become an unrestricted free agent after the 2010-2011 season, has 32 points in 20 games this season. “I am extremely happy to sign,” Semin said through a translator. “I like this team. I really like everything here.” Washington selected Semin 13th overall in the 2002 NHL Draft and he has grown into a star in his own right alongside Ovechkin, the NHL’s Most Valuable Player the past two seasons.
■SKIING
World champ suffers injury
Austrian world champion Kathrin Zettel suffered a right knee injury in training on Saturday and is doubtful for the World Cup giant slalom and slalom in Linz today and tomorrow. The 23-year-old, world champion in the combined, damaged ligaments in her knee, said the Austrian skiing federation. Zettel currently leads the giant slalom standings, but is still searching for her first win after three podium places in the giant and one in the slalom.
■FIGURE SKATING
Champ sets new world best
Olympic champion Yevgeny Plushenko set a new world best total mark of 271.59 points to win his eighth domestic title at the Russian championships. The 27-year-old scored 171.50 points for his free skating performance, skating to Tango Amore by Edwin Marton at St Petersburg’s Jubilee ice palace. “I can mark my performance with three points of five — maximum,” Plushenko said as he geared up for the next year’s European Championships as well as another Olympics assault in Vancouver in February. “I was practicing only one week before the Russian championships. Now I need to rehabilitate completely ahead of the European championships to gain my top form for the Olympics.”
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