■SOCCER
Bottle-throwing striker fined
Hamburg SV striker Paolo Guerrero was fined on Monday for throwing a plastic bottle at a fan after the previous day’s 0-0 draw at home to Hanover 96 in the Bundesliga. The club described the Peruvian’s behavior as “absolutely unacceptable” and said he would face a heavy fine. “I had a blackout,” Guerrero told the club’s Web site after the latest incident in an unhappy season in which he has also suffered a knee injury and battled against a fear of flying. “I was insulted and I overreacted. I’m really sorry for it. I hope I have the chance to meet the fan in person to apologize. I’ve already apologized to HSV. Naturally, I will accept any fine from the club.” Chairman Bernd Hoffmann said: “Paolo’s behavior was absolutely unacceptable. That sort of thing should not happen. Paolo will be punished by us with a big fine.” Kicker magazine said the fine could be between 50,000 and 100,000 euros (US$67,150 to US$134,300) and would be donated to charity. It was only Guerrero’s second league match since he tore cruciate knee ligaments in September. In January, he was forced to delay his return from a stay in Peru due a fear of flying, media reports saying that he had made several failed attempts to board an aircraft.
■CRICKET
Jamshed nabbed red-handed
Police have arrested Pakistan international Nasir Jamshed for cheating during a school exam. Senior police official Haider Ashraf said that Jamshed was caught “red-handed” on Monday while doing a ninth-grade English exam. Jamshed, 20, played the last of his 12 one-day internationals against Sri Lanka at Dambulla in August. He’s scored 353 runs at an average of 35.30. Jamshed — a left-handed opening batsman — was ignored by the Pakistan Cricket Board when it gave one-year central contracts to 37 players last month.
■FORMULA ONE
Malaysian GP targets fans
Fans will be able to get cheaper tickets for next year’s Malaysian Grand Prix as organizers target a race day audience of at least 100,000 at the Sepang International circuit. Nearly 98,000 watched Sebastian Vettel lead Mark Webber to a Red Bull one-two in Sunday’s race at the track, which can hold up to 130,000 spectators. “Now we have to start planning for next year and we will review all ticket prices,” circuit chief executive Razlan Razali told yesterday’s Star newspaper. “It is to make the Malaysian GP more accessible to everybody and we want to ensure more Malaysians get in touch with the sport,” Razlan said. “My hope was to get 100,000 to come on race day and we were just a bit short of reaching the target. We have to work on volume to get the fans in and my hope is to see the stands filled in future Malaysian GPs.”
■BASKETBALL
S Korea recruit Wilkens
Hall of Fame coach Lenny Wilkens has been recruited by South Korea to help prepare their team for this year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou. The 72-year-old was inducted into the Hall of Fame both as a player and a coach and set the record for the most coaching wins in the NBA with 1,332 victories. “We reached a settlement with Wilkens in cooperation with the US National Basketball Association,” the committee that runs the South Korean team told the Yonhap news agency. South Korea won gold on home soil at the 2002 Asian Games but finished fifth in Qatar four years ago. The 16th Asian Games take place in southern China from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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