■TAEKWONDO
Pimp fighter to sell brothel
A New Zealand athlete who opened a brothel to fund his Olympic campaign is auctioning off the business and will use the proceeds to pay his way to foreign competitions, he said yesterday. Logan Campbell, who finished in the top 16 in the featherweight division at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was condemned by the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) when he opened a “high class gentleman’s club” in Auckland to finance future competition. The NZOC said such a business went against Olympic principles. Campbell will sell the business on an auction Web site and hopes to raise NZ$300,000 (US$210,000) toward the cost of his bid to represent New Zealand at the 2012 London Olympics. The business is listed on the New Zealand Web site Trademe with a US$1 reserve.
■TAIWAN
SAC to spend US$50m
The Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council (SAC) will spend NT$1.6 billion (US$50 million) this year on a program aimed at boosting participation in sports, the country’s top sports administrator said yesterday. Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling said the program would help finance construction of sports or exercise centers to encourage the public to exercise regularly. The council also intends to invest NT$4 billion over the next four years to build new cycling trails, Tai said. “The trails will connect with 17 road networks around Taiwan to form two round-the-island cycling trails — one a 1,022km coastal path and another a 907km mountain trail,” Tai said.
■BASKETBALL
Rose joins All-Stars
Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose was excused from the rookie challenge during NBA All-Star weekend and replaced by Golden State’s Anthony Morrow on Tuesday. Rose, last season’s rookie of the year, was selected as a reserve for the All-Star game next week and will compete in the skills challenge as the defending champion of the event. Because that would have meant events on three straight nights, the NBA said he could skip the rookie game. Players in their first two seasons selected for the All-Star game are typically required to compete in the game between rookies and sophomores.
■FOOTBALL
Jets fine coach for finger
The New York Jets have slapped head coach Rex Ryan with a US$50,000 for making an obscene gesture during a mixed martial arts event in Miami last weekend. “Rex showed extremely poor judgment and his conduct was inappropriate,” Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. “He knows he was wrong, has apologized and we have accepted his apology.” In his rookie season as head coach, Ryan led the Jets to a 9-7 record and a wild-card berth.
■MOTORCYCLING
Manca to fly home
Italian motorcyclist Luca Manca, critically injured in the Dakar Rally and placed in an induced coma after a fall, has recovered sufficiently to be repatriated, a hospital spokesman said on Tuesday. “Luca Manca has been given the green light medically and can be transferred to an Italian hospital in the next 48 hours,” a statement issued by the hospital read. The 29-year-old Manca had been undergoing treatment at Cobre de Calma hospital after being airlifted from the course and was put on a respirator. He had been ninth in the standings on his Dakar debut, but then fell in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile on Jan. 7 as the racers made their way from Antofagasta to Iquique.
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