■ OLYMPICS
Arrows to fly at Lord’s
Cricket will make way for archery at the historic Lord’s ground in two years’ time after London 2012 organizers got the go-ahead for their plans on Monday. Lord’s, the spiritual home of world cricket, will be temporarily transformed into an Olympic archery venue with 5,000 seats installed on the lush green outfield. The archery is provisionally scheduled to run from July 27 to Aug. 3, in the middle of the English cricket season, but Lord’s executives believe disruption to the calendar will be minimal. Archers will fire their arrows from in front of the Lord’s pavilion toward the space-age media center that is one of London’s most recognizable structures.
■ GOLF
Pavin faces tough decision
US captain Corey Pavin has four picks and one tough decision to fill out his Ryder Cup team. Pavin already has eight players who earned their way onto the team after the PGA Championship, then had the next three weeks to see who distinguished themselves as an obvious pick. Tiger Woods? That should be an easy one. Asked about it, Woods said, “I think he has my number.” Most indications are that Zach Johnson, who won at Colonial this year and has been playing well since the PGA Championship, will get another pick. Stewart Cink, last year’s British Open champion who has played on the last four teams, also is expected to get chosen.
■ SOCCER
Kuyt to miss Euro qualifier
Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt is injured and will miss Holland’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Finland on Tuesday, Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk reported. “I think he could be out for several weeks,” van Marwijk told UEFA’s official site after the player suffered a shoulder problem in training Monday. The injury is also bad news for Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson as he prepares his team for Sunday’s Premier League visit to Anfield by Manchester United. Holland, the beaten World Cup finalists who could also be without Stuttgart defender Khalid Boulahrouz for the fixture in Rotterdam, began their campaign to qualify for Euro 2012 in stirring fashion with a 5-0 drubbing of San Marino last Friday.
■ FOOTBALL
Revis ends holdout
All-star cornerback Darrelle Revis and the New York Jets agreed to a new contract on Monday paving the way for him to end his 36-day holdout. US newspapers reported the deal to be a four-year, US$46 million contract. Revis agreed to a new contract late on Sunday night and took an early morning flight on Monday from his home in Florida so he could practice with the team ahead of their season opener next Monday against Baltimore. Revis began his holdout on Aug. 1. The club slapped him with almost US$600,000 in fines for holding out and his agent said the money would go to charity.
■OLYMPICS
It’s relatively safe to curl
At least 10 percent of athletes at this year’s Winter Olympics sustained an injury and another seven percent fell ill, researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine yesterday. The most dangerous sports were bobsleigh, ice hockey, short track, alpine freestyle and snowboard cross, which notched up injury rates of between 15 and 35 percent depending on the discipline. The risk was lowest for Nordic skiing, luge, curling, speed skating and freestyle moguls, where fewer than five percent of participants got hurt. The luge event, however, was marked by the death of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili.
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