■BASEBALL
Sport to have Rome home
Mayor Gianni Alemanno announced plans on Sunday to donate a parcel of land for a new, baseball-specific stadium that can host international events. It will be built in Tor Vergata, an area south of the city where there’s a campus for the University of Rome. “Rome doesn’t have a baseball stadium that can host international events and as a mayor, I felt I had to fill this deficiency,” Alemanno said in a statement issued following an executive meeting of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF). “I am positive baseball has a great potential in Rome,” Alemanno said. On hand for the meeting was Dan Bonanno, who represented Major League Baseball (MLB). “I think there can be an important cooperation between the city of Rome, IBAF and MLB,” Fraccari said. “I expect the synergy effect to be really strong.” The executive committee also announced that Roberto Fabbricini, the former director of Olympic teams for the Italian Olympic Committee, will take over as executive director of the baseball federation. He had worked for the Italian team until the Beijing Olympics.
■SOCCER
Top clubs face demotion
Two top Chinese clubs could be relegated for match-fixing and gambling, a league official said yesterday, amid a major crackdown to rid the troubled sport of corruption. Guangzhou GPC and Chengdu Blades face demotion to the second division, while second division Qingdao Hailifeng could be disqualified entirely, said Ma Chengquan, director of the Chinese Football League. “It’s just an initial punishment decision. There will be a hearing this afternoon — we will listen to the clubs’ statements,” Ma said. Qingdao Hailifeng also face a fine of 200,000 yuan (US$30,000), he said. A formal final decision would be announced later in the week, he said. The teams can appeal, “but the mountain of evidence unearthed during the nationwide crackdown on gambling means they have little chance of succeeding,” the China Daily said. “We were mentally prepared for such punishment,” the newspaper quoted Guangzhou head coach Peng Weiguo as saying. “We will fight on.”
■DRAG RACING
Flying tire kills fan
A fan has died after being hit by a tire from a crashing dragster at the National Hot Rod Association Arizona Nationals. The woman was watching a first-round run on Sunday at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler when Antron Brown’s Matco Tools/US Army dragster went out of control on the strip and its left rear tire and wheel came off. Alia Maisonet, a spokeswoman for the Gila River Indian Community, says the woman was airlifted to a Phoenix-area hospital for treatment and later died.
■SOCCER
President visits striker
Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo says Salvador Cabanas is hopeful, talking and exercising. The Paraguayan striker, who plays for Mexico’s Club America, is recovering after being shot in the head on Jan. 25 at a Mexico City bar. Lugo says he found Cabanas very lucid and with “a lot of hope” during their talk at the hospital on Sunday. Lugo, who is in Mexico for the Rio Group summit, showed off an America T-shirt that Cabanas signed. Lugo says the player is exercising on a stationary bike. Cabanas had been expected to lead Paraguay’s national team at the World Cup in South Africa this summer. The man suspected of shooting him is still at large.
RSS