■RUGBY UNION
Overseas players allowed
The new Melbourne team will be allowed up to 10 overseas players in its inaugural roster for next year’s Super Rugby season under new player concessions announced by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) yesterday. The ARU board has eased its existing foreign player policy so the fifth Australian team can be competitive for next year’s season, a spokesman said. Previously, Australian states were allowed only two overseas players in their respective squads. They allowed for one “marquee” signing who has already qualified for another nation, and a development player who could qualify for Australian selection under the International Rugby Board’s three-year residency regulation. The ARU said to ensure Melbourne had a competitive squad for its inaugural year in a revamped 15-team Super Rugby competition, its board had decided to relax its foreign player policy for the fledgling franchise.
■RUGBY UNION
Castres consolidate lead
Castres consolidated their lead of the French Top 14 with a six-try drubbing of Albi on Sunday as Stade Francais stuttered to a drab 6-6 draw with Montauban. Clermont moved into second place with an impressive five-try 39-3 dismantling of Toulon, for whom England outside-half Johnny Wilkinson was replaced at half-time after complaining of back pains. Outplayed up-front, Toulon conceded tries to Canadian lock Jamie Cudmore, outstanding scrum-half Morgan Parra, winger Julien Malzieu and late replacement Kevin Senio, as well as a penalty try. Racing-Metro, who last lost in September, were denied a 10th successive win by Bourgoin, who triumphed 18-17 in the French capital.
■HOCKEY
Canada beat Switzerland
Taylor Hall scored twice and Jake Allen made 20 saves as five-time defending champion Canada beat Switzerland 6-1 to set up a title showdown against the US in the world junior championship. Jerry D’Amigo scored two goals to lead the Americans to a 5-2 win over Sweden in the other semi-final. The US reached the championship game for the first time since beating Canada in the 2004 final in Finland. On Thursday night in the Group A finale, Canada rallied to beat the US 5-4 in a shootout. Marco Scandella scored short-handed and Jordan Eberle, Brayden Schenn and Stefan Della Rovere added goals on Sunday to help Canada reach the final for the ninth straight year. Eberle had a power-play goal in the first period to tie John Tavares’ career Canadian goals record with 12.
■SOCCER
Porter players face sanctions
A post-match incident involving Givanildo “Hulk” Vieira and Ionut Sapunaru may lead to sanctions for up to five Porto players. The players are being investigated for their role in a fight in the players’ tunnel after Porto’s 1-0 defeat at Benfica on Dec. 20 that resulted in a security guard being hospitalized with a head injury. Hulk and Sapunaru had been expelled by referee Lucilio Baptista. They both now face disciplinary action. Hulk’s agent, Teodoro Fonseca, told reporters the Brazilian “had been provoked from beginning to end” during the match. Security video footage showing teammates Jorge Fucile, Cristian Rodriguez and Helton could see those three also facing similar proceedings. Calls to Porto and the Portuguese Federation went unanswered.
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