■SOCCER
Cheyrou salvages a point
A superb late goal from Benoit Cheyrou gave Marseille a 1-1 draw at 10-man Bordeaux in the highlight of weekend Ligue 1 action on Sunday. Midfielder Cheyrou controlled the ball on his chest and volleyed home nine minutes from time to allow the visitors to share the points with the champions, now seven points clear of second-placed Lille. Bordeaux, who had defender Marc Planus sent off for a dangerous tackle in the second half, moved in front with a controversial own-goal just before halftime, Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda sending the ball into his net under pressure from Marouane Chamakh. The Marseille players protested that the Morocco striker had pushed Mandanda and television replays suggested he had, but referee Laurent Duhamel ruled the goal was valid. Marseille remained fourth, 11 points off the pace and three behind third-placed Montpellier. Bordeaux suffered after the break when goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso had to be substituted with an injury, before Planus received his marching orders on the hour for a challenge on Marseille captain Mamadou Niang. Marseille came close to scoring shortly before equalizing, Benoit Tremoulinas clearing a Niang header off the line.
■GOLF
Woods a bad example: Pele
Brazilian soccer legend Pele on Sunday said Tiger Woods was a bad example to youngsters who once looked up to the tainted golf superstar. “We are all human. We have weaknesses and we can break at any time,” Pele told Caracol de Bogota radio while on a visit to promote the Copa Libertadores tournament. “You have to be very strong because famous names are often examples to youngsters. Sadly, this was something sad for him and his family. He’s not been a very good example.” World No. 1 golfer Woods has suffered a momentous fall from grace since a Nov. 27 late-night car crash. The mysterious accident touched off a sensational sex scandal, with Woods eventually admitting to marital infidelity.
■RUGBY UNION
Toulouse qualify for quarters
Toulouse swept into the Heineken Cup quarter-finals by beating Harlequins 33-21 to win Pool Five on Sunday. Toulouse joined fellow French side Biarritz, who have qualified from Pool Two. London Irish had their hopes severely dented when they were beaten 31-22 by Llanelli in Pool Six and even victory next week over holders Leinster might not clinch top spot. In Pool Five, Northampton’s Jon Clarke scored a last-gasp try to give the 2000 champions a precious bonus point with a 34-0 thrashing of French club Perpignan.
■BOBSLED
Lange wins in St Moritz
Andre Lange of Germany won his third straight four-man bobsled World Cup race in St Moritz, Switzerland, on Sunday. The reigning Olympic champion in two-man and four-man bobsled had a combined time of 2 minutes, 10.13 seconds. Lange and his team of Rene Hoppe, Kevin Kuske and Martin Putze edged the Germany III sled driven by Karl Angerer by 0.25 seconds.
■LUGE
Germans fill the podium
Andi Langenhan led a German sweep of the top three places in a men’s luge World Cup race in Oberhof, Germany, on Sunday, capping a perfect weekend for the home competitors. The Germans also swept the men’s doubles and the women’s singles on Saturday. Langenhan clocked 1 minute, 31.383 seconds for the two runs for a comfortable victory over Johannes Ludwig and Jan Echhorn.
■FOOTBALL
Bears’ Adams dies at 26
Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams died on Sunday of a cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart, a South Carolina coroner said. Greenwood County Coroner Jim Coursey said Adams, 26, was taken to the emergency room at Self Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Sunday morning. Adams was experiencing “health issues” and his girlfriend called for an ambulance, Coursey said. Adams arrived at the hospital just after 7am and was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 7:21am. Coursey said results of a toxicology report probably will not available for “a few months.” Adams played college football at Clemson University and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2007 draft. Adams was traded to the Chicago Bears in October and featured in 10 games for the team this season.
■BOXING
Khan signs with de la Hoya
British superstar Amir Khan, the World Boxing Association super-lightweight champion, has signed a promotional deal with Oscar de la Hoya, hoping the “Golden Boy” can boost his US recognition. Khan, 22-1 with 16 knockouts, joined a stable of British fighters that includes WBA heavyweight champion David Haye and Ricky Hatton who have deals with Golden Boy Promotions, which announced the contract with Khan on Sunday. “I am really happy,” Khan said.
■CYCLING
Armstrong opens center
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has broken ground on a new cancer research center in Adelaide, Australia, while capping his preparation for the Tour Down Under, combining the charitable works and the cycling ambitions that lured him from retirement 12 months ago. The cancer survivor has raised more than US$350 million to fight cancer through his Livestrong Foundation and last year while in Adelaide endorsed fundraising efforts to build the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer.
■MARATHON
Ethiopians win in Houston
Ethiopia’s Teshome Gelena set a course record in winning the Houston Marathon men’s title on Sunday, while compatriot Teybe Erkesso defended her title in the race by breaking her own course mark. Gelena won in two hours, seven minutes and 37 seconds, while Erkesso took her crown in 2:23:53, nearly 30 seconds under her old mark. American Shalane Flanagan, the 10,000m Olympic bronze medalist at the 2008 Games, won the Houston women’s half-marathon crown in her first race beyond 10,000m in 1:09.41.
■BADMINTON
China earn three golds
China swept up three gold medals on the final day of the Korea Open badminton championship on Sunday, while the host nation managed a gold and a silver. In the women’s singles final, China’s Wang Shixian edged Korean Sung Ji-hyun 21-10, 25-23 in a battle of unseeded players. In the women’s doubles, top-seeded duo Cheng Shu and Zhao Yunlei overcame the second seeded pair Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiwa of Japan, 21-16, 21-15. He Hanbin and Yu Yang gave China the third gold of the day, as they beat compatriots Tao Jiaming and Zhang Yawen in the mixed doubles finals. Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia claimed the men’s singles title over the second seed Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark. South Korea got its only gold in the men’s doubles. No. 1 seed Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae needed three sets to get past Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China.
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