■BOXING
Ex-champ on murder rap
Argentine former WBO world junior-lightweight champion Rodrigo Barrios testified on Monday before a prosecutor in a murder case in which he is accused of killing a pregnant woman in a car accident in which six others were injured. Police said Barrios, 33, ran a red light on Sunday, and struck another car in the coastal city of Mar del Plata, about 400km southeast of Buenos Aries. The force of the crash carried the second vehicle into the path of seven pedestrians, killing one of them. Witnesses said Barrios fled the scene and struck another car as he drove away.
■CRICKET
Warne set to boost ties
Cricketing legend Shane Warne has been drawn into Australia’s efforts to strengthen ties with India following a spate of attacks on Indian students. Diplomatic tension between the countries has mounted following the unsolved murder of 21-year-old Punjab man Nitin Garg in Melbourne earlier this month and officials hope Warne’s spin offensive can help improve relations. “It might be a friendly cricket game. It might be that he does some work for us in India, in terms of just stating the case about what a great place Victoria is, what a great place Australia is,” Victorian Premier John Brumby said on Monday. “He is highly regarded, he is much loved in India and he has got a great sense of the Australian psyche, so I think these two things can come together and we’ll see what we can make out of it to strengthen that Australia-India relationship.”
■RUGBY UNION
Borthwick keeps captaincy
Steve Borthwick will retain the England captaincy for the upcoming Six Nations Championship opener against Wales, the Rugby Football Union announced on Monday. Earlier this month England manager Martin Johnson named his squad for the Six Nations but refused to say if Borthwick would continue as captain, raising the possibility of a new second row combination taking the field against Wales next month. But an RFU statement Monday said: “England team manager Martin Johnson has confirmed Steve Borthwick (Saracens) will captain the team.” Borthwick has captained England in every Test that Johnson has been in charge of since the World Cup winning captain became manager in 2008. However, their record as manager and captain of six wins from 14 Tests with eight defeats has led to questions being asked of both men’s suitability for their respective roles. Many observers have also queried whether Borthwick is worth a place in the side purely as a lock but Monday’s announcement means that he is set to retain the captaincy for the whole of the Six Nations.
■SOCCER
Tycoon rules out stake
Malaysian aviation tycoon Tony Fernandes yesterday ruled out becoming a minority stakeholder in West Ham after he lost out in a bid to take control of the Premier League club. Former Birmingham City owners David Sullivan and David Gold on Jan. 19 said they had won full control of the club after acquiring a 50 percent stake in a move they admitted only made sense to them as lifelong supporters. Sullivan secured an option to buy the remaining 50 percent at any time in the next four years but said he would prefer to attract other wealthy West Ham fans, including Fernandes, to join him in investing in the club. Asked whether he was interested, Fernandes replied: “No.” “My main concern is I went for 100 percent of the ownership because I think you need to have one leader. And I’m not sure two leaders is the right thing right now,” he said.
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