■BASKETBALL
Marion Jones signs deal
Disgraced Olympic sprinter Marion Jones signed a contract on Wednesday to play with the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock. The WNBA marks a second chance for Jones, who was stripped of five Olympic medals for using performance-enhancing drugs and sent to prison for lying about her steroid use, which ended her track career. Jones attended the University of North Carolina on a basketball scholarship, where she played point guard and helped lead the Tar Heels to a 92-10 record over three seasons. Drafted by the Phoenix Mercury in the third round of 2003 WNBA draft, Jones still ranks fifth on North Carolina’s career assist list, third in steals and seventh in blocks. “She made some ill-advised decisions in the past, but everyone deserves a second chance to excel at something they love,” Shock president Steve Swetoha said.
■BASKETBALL
Stuckey cleared to exercise
Rodney Stuckey has been cleared to return to exercise by three doctors, although it is unknown when he might play again for the Detroit Pistons, the NBA club said on Wednesday. Stuckey, who collapsed on the bench during a Friday loss at Cleveland has been examined and cleared to work out by three doctors following a heart evaluation. Stuckey missed Sunday’s game against Houston and was not cleared for Detroit’s game on Wednesday against Utah. Stuckey missed two games last season because of dizziness.
■BASEBALL
Garciaparra calls it a day
Nomar Garciaparra, who spent 14 seasons in Major League Baseball, retired on Wednesday after signing a one-day contract with the Boston Red Sox so he could end his career where it began. Garciaparra, whose wife is retired US soccer legend Mia Hamm, announced he is leaving the sport to become a television baseball commentator. “From the first day I had the thrill of putting on a Red Sox uniform and playing in front of all the great fans at Fenway Park, I have felt at home in Boston,” Garciaparra said in a statement. “While I had the privilege of playing with other legendary teams, I always saw myself retiring in a Red Sox uniform.” Garciaparra, 36, became one of the most beloved players in Red Sox history during his nine years there. He was a six-time All-Star and won American League batting titles in 1999 and 2000 plus the Most Valuable Player award in 1997. Over the past five seasons, Garciaparra played for Oakland, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.
■HOCKEY
Crosby’s golden stick found
An mystery was solved on Wednesday when officials said they had located the stick Sidney Crosby used to win the men’s hockey gold medal for Canada at the Vancouver Games. The stick, along with one of Crosby’s gloves, disappeared during chaotic on-ice celebrations following Canada’s overtime victory over the US on Feb. 28. The disappearance prompted speculation the valuable items might have been stolen. The stick’s maker, Reebok, had posted a C$10,000 (US$9,750) reward for its recovery. It now turns out that officials, who did not realize it was the game-winner, mistakenly put the stick in a shipment of equipment being sent to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), Hockey Canada said. The IIHF helped retrieve the stick, which Crosby identified through a photograph, Hockey Canada said. Crosby’s Olympic teammate Patrice Bergeron recovered the missing glove, which arena workers had accidentally put in his equipment bag after the gold medal game.
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