■GOLF
Daly to endorse underwear
John Daly has a new endorsement deal to go with those outrageously loud pants. He also will be hawking underwear. Slix, an online company that began four months ago, says the two-time major winner will endorse its line of Slix Closer boxer briefs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Daly has lost more than 45kg after lap-band surgery a year ago. He no longer has his PGA Tour card, but has played four times this year and made his first cut last week in Mexico, before shooting 81 in the last round.
■BASKETBALL
Iverson out indefinitely
Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson will be out indefinitely while he spends time with his sick daughter, the NBA team said on Monday. “At this time, we feel that it is in the best interest of the Sixers, Allen and his family that he be allowed to deal with a very serious issue that is far greater than the game of basketball,” 76ers general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement on the team’s Web site. Iverson missed five games and the All-Star Game before returning on Feb. 16. His daughter’s illness has not been revealed.
■BASEBALL
Damon, Tigers finalize deal
Johnny Damon, let go by the World Series-winning New York Yankees, has found a home in Detroit. “This is where I wanted to be,” Damon said on Monday after finalizing a US$8million, one-year deal. “The Tigers were my first choice. I love it here and think I am a good fit,” Damon said. Atlanta and the Chicago White Sox had also expressed interest in Damon, who said he was attracted by the youthfulness of the Tigers. “The Tigers are a scary team and the fact that this team has gotten even younger makes it a lot more fun,” the 36-year-old outfielder said. Damon brings another left-handed bat to the Tigers’ lineup along with that of switch-hitter Carlos Guillen. Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski had said Damon wasn’t in the team’s sights as recently as last month. But he entered the picture after Detroit dealt leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, then saw Placido Polanco leave as a free agent.
■SOCCER
Villa fires Valencia to victory
David Villa struck twice either side of half-time to go top of the La Liga list of leading scorers and fire 10-man Valencia to a 2-1 home win over Getafe on Monday. The Spain striker swept the ball past Getafe goalkeeper Jordi Codina in the 39th minute to draw level on 16 goals with Barcelona forward Lionel Messi. Villa’s international colleague David Silva then sent him clear on the left seven minutes after the break and he lifted a delightful lob over the advancing Codina for his 17th of the campaign. Valencia defender Alexis Ruano was shown a second yellow card in the 61st before Manu del Moral pulled one back for the visitors with 15 minutes left. The victory lifts Unai Emery’s side to 46 points from 23 matches, 10 behind second-placed Real Madrid and 12 behind leaders Barcelona. Getafe remain in eighth on 32.
■RUGBY UNION
International has heart op
Fijian international center Maleli Kunavore underwent a cardiac operation on Monday according to his Toulouse club doctor. The 26-year-old — who joined Toulouse in 2005 — has only played twice this season having suffered two serious injuries to his left arm. “He [Kunavore] was operated on Monday for a cardiac problem and the operation went well,” said club doctor Albert Sadacca, who declined to elaborate further.
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