■CRICKET
Proteas pan Trott routine
England batsman Jonathan Trott could get into trouble if he persists in taking too long to face up to the bowlers, South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers warned on Sunday. Trott’s slow, deliberate routine prior to taking guard was highlighted by South Africa captain Graeme Smith after the first Test in Centurion and Trott was booed by the Kingsmead crowd on the second day of the second Test on Sunday. He finished the day with 17 not out in an England total of 103 for one. “The umpires are aware of it and Graeme is dealing with it,” de Villiers said of Trott’s routine, which sometimes means he is not ready to face when the bowlers are set to start their run-ups. “It is very frustrating. Our bowlers have their rhythms. It’s a tactic that might get him into trouble soon.” De Villiers said the umpires had spoken to Trott — “and Graeme is talking to Trotty as well.” Asked whether the Smith-Trott exchanges were on or off the field, de Villiers said they had happened on the field. England off-spin bowler Graeme Swann defended Trott and said his routine was the same as it was in county cricket. “He’s done it every year when I have bowled against him. It’s just Trotty. It’s the way he plays. He’s very organized and he’s got a very clear game plan,” Swann said.
■SKI JUMPING
Matti Nykanen arrested
Finnish ski jump legend Matti Nykanen, a four-time Olympic champion, has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to murder his wife on Christmas Day, according to press reports on Sunday. Nykanen, 46, spent the weekend in police custody following the incident on Friday that left his wife with injuries to her forehead and hand. She took refuge at a neighbor’s house, from where she called police. Nykanen was expected to be charged yesterday, according to a report on the Web site of Helsinki Sanomat. Although one of the biggest names in the sport, Nykanen, a triple gold medal winner from the Calgary Games in 1988, has also attracted plenty of notoriety in Finland where he is still hugely popular. He has already spent time in prison for conjugal violence.
■SOCCER
Scolari rejected Juve offer
World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari says he turned down an offer from Juventus to stay with Bunyodkor. Scolari said on Bunyodkor’s Web site that he rejected Juventus’ offer because he is “completely satisfied” at the Uzbek league leaders and Asian Champions League quarter-finalists. Scolari signed an 18-month deal in October to coach the Uzbek team and oversee a youth sports academy in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. Scolari, who took over from Brazilian great Zico, was fired by English Premier League club Chelsea in February. He coached Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title and also coached Brazilian clubs Gremio and Palmeiras to Copa Libertadores titles.
■SOCCER
Buonanotte out for months
River Plate midfielder Diego Buonanotte will be out for at least seven months after being involved in a car crash that killed three of his friends. The 21-year-old player was driving on a rural highway early on Saturday when his Peugeot 607 slammed into a tree. He suffered broken bones and bruises on his chest. Passengers Alexis Fulcheri, Gerardo Sune and Emanuel Melo were buried on Sunday. Team doctor Horacio Cavallieri visited the midfielder in a Buenos Aires hospital, saying Buonanotte was in a stable condition, calm and conscious, though sedated. Buonanotte was reportedly a transfer target of English Premier League side Sunderland.
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