■ SOCCER
Fans clash with police
China’s soccer association said yesterday it was investigating a violent clash between fans of a provincial team and police, the latest bout of unrest to hit the nation’s beautiful game. Fans of Henan Province’s Jianye soccer club battled riot police in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on Wednesday night following their team’s 2-0 home defeat to Jiangsu’s Shuntian, the Beijing Times reported. More than 10 people were injured after fans threw stones at police outside the ground, demanding management fire those responsible. Some burned their tickets and others used fire extinguishers to fight police, the report said. Gambling, match-fixing, crooked referees and poor performances by China’s national team have made the sport a source of chagrin for the nation’s fans and a matter of mounting state concern.
■ RUGBY UNION
Flight video features players
National carrier Air New Zealand has launched a new campaign to crouch, touch, pause and engage with their passengers, recruiting several All Blacks for their new in-flight safety video. The video, which local media said would be on flights next week, but has already appeared on video-sharing Web site YouTube, features All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and coach Graham Henry giving tips from the cockpit. Fellow All Blacks Conrad Smith, Mils Muliaina and Richard Kahui and prominent rugby commentator Tony Johnson also feature in the video, along with garishly dressed rugby fans. The video is sprinkled with rugby symbolism and terminology with Henry, a former secondary school headmaster, sternly warning passengers of the airline’s no-smoking policy: “If you find yourself needing to smoke on this flight, consider yourself dropped ... we can’t have that kind of disruption in the team.” It concludes with a Jonah Lomu-obsessed elderly woman running naked, or streaking, down the central aisle of the plane. The video will replace the previous “bare essentials” video in which several Air New Zealand staff wore body-painted uniforms as they ran through safety procedures.
■ FOOTBALL
Vikings’ Harvin hospitalized
Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl wide receiver Percy Harvin is alert and comfortable, but will spend the night in hospital after he collapsed at practice on Thursday from what the team called a migraine headache attack. Harvin, who missed most of the team’s training camp because of headaches, experienced trembling during Thursday’s workout and was unresponsive for a short period, the team said. “I don’t know how they classify it. Not really a seizure, but he had some trouble over here,” Vikings coach Brad Childress told reporters. “I’d be remiss if I tried to qualify it one way or the other. He seemed like he was stable.” Childress, who is putting the incident in the migraine category, said Harvin experienced a similar incident in college.
■ SOCCER
Remy heads to Marseille
France striker Loic Remy has joined Olympique Marseille from Ligue 1 rivals Nice, the French champions said on Thursday. The player later passed a medical and signed a five-year contract for an undisclosed transfer fee, Marseille said in a statement on their Web site. Marseille, who have lost their first two league matches this season, desperately need a striker to replace their Senegal forward Mamadou Niang, last season’s Ligue 1 top scorer with 18 goals, who has left for Fenerbahce.
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