■SOCCER
Identity woe for goalkeeper
Paris Saint Germain goalkeeper Apoula Edel was set to face further media scrutiny yesterday when a sports weekly claimed to have evidence that he is not really who he claims to be. Edel hit the headlines several months ago when a disgruntled former coach of the player in Cameroon, Nicolas Philibert, claimed Edel was in fact five years older than 24, and named Ambroise Beyamena. Edel has refuted the allegations. However, yesterday’s 10 Sport’s edition contains excerpts of documents which appear to support Philibert’s claims. The weekly also published signed testimony from another Cameroon player who claims to have known Edel as Ambroise Beyamena in Cameroon and then recognized him in France. It is believed Philibert initially informed the authorities of the alleged fraud in a bid to reclaim money owed to him by Edel.
■FORMULA ONE
Minister defends GP
Australia’s Victoria state government has defended the Melbourne Grand Prix after it posted its biggest loss in five years, costing taxpayers nearly US$50 million, reports said yesterday. Attendance was up at this year’s race over last year, but costs rose after the start time was moved to the evening to suit global television audiences, and the March event was in the red to the tune of A$49 million (US$46 million). The GP is funded by the state government and has consistently lost money since Melbourne replaced Adelaide as Australia’s Formula One venue in 1996. Victoria’s Major Events Minister Tim Holding defended the costs in the face of criticism that the government was propping up a “millionaires’ car race” at the expense of vital services. “The economic benefit to Victoria far outweighs the cost of staging the Formula One Grand Prix,” Holding was quoted as saying by Melbourne’s Age newspaper.
■SOCCER
Ex-Socceroo arrested: report
Former Socceroos captain Craig Moore has been arrested in Dubai for allegedly drink-driving and assaulting police, Australian media reported yesterday. Public broadcaster ABC said Moore, 34, was in jail after being arrested on Wednesday. Foreign affairs officials said a 34-year-old Australian man had been detained in Dubai, without identifying him. “The man remains in detention and has legal representation,” a spokesman said in a statement. Moore retired after this year’s World Cup, following a career that included 52 caps for the Socceroos.
■SOCCER
Henry kicks up fuss
New York Red Bulls star Thierry Henry’s celebratory kick left goalkeeper Kevin Hartman with an injured knee — and Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman hopping mad. Following a goal by New York’s Mehdi Ballouchy on Thursday, Henry went to strike the ball again and Hartman got in the way. The Dallas goalkeeper went down with an injured medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Henry apologized to Hartman at halftime of the 2-2 draw. “The ball was there and like I do sometimes, I just wanted to kick the ball back in the net,” Henry said. “He put his foot out there and that’s how he got injured. That was unfortunate. I went to apologize at halftime because I didn’t mean to hurt him. He put his foot out there and I just wanted to smash the ball back in the net. A pure accident. I told him I was sorry. He accepted it. It was one of those stupid things.” Hyndman said the team would likely submit a complaint to the league.
■BASKETBALL
Casspi mural defaced again
Police and the NBA’s Sacramento Kings are urging possible witnesses to come forward after a mural of Kings player Omri Casspi of Israel was again defaced with a swastika. A swastika was first found painted on the mural on Sept. 8, and the portrait was found defaced again on Thursday morning, Sacramento police said. Casspi, who is Jewish, is the only NBA player born in Israel. The Anti-Defamation League had already offered a US$1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the first incident. Joe Maloof, co-owner of the Kings, released a statement on Thursday describing the vandalism as “sickening acts of intolerance.” Maloof says the team will match the reward offered by the Anti-Defamation League.
■BASKETBALL
Haslem’s charges dropped
Felony marijuana charges were dropped against Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem on Thursday, court records showed. “While there was probable cause for the arrest of Udonis Haslem, the state could not prove Udonis Haslem’s knowledge or possession of the cannabis beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors said in a written memo. “As a result, the state attorney’s office will not be able file charges.” Florida state troopers arrested Haslem and another man last month after finding marijuana in the trunk of Haslem’s car. Haslem’s attorney, Eric Schwartzreich, had denied the marijuana was Haslem’s and the seven-year NBA veteran had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
■BOXING
Showtime plans tournament
The Showtime cable television network yesterday unveiled a single elimination bantamweight boxing tournament to begin on Dec. 11 with a bout featuring Yonnhy Perez and Joseph Agbeko. The fight in Leon, Mexico, between unbeaten International Boxing Federation champion Perez and Agbeko will be the first of two semi-finals. The second will feature unbeaten Abner Mares and two-division champion Vic Darchinyan. The championship and consolation matches will be held next year. “I hold these four world championship competitors in the highest regard for taking the fights that the fans want to see, for risking their status as one of the world’s best, to prove they are the sole champion in the division,” Showtime vice president Ken Hershman said yesterday. The tournament has been in development for several weeks. It is more streamlined than Showtime’s “Super Six” super middleweight modified round-robin tournament that is still underway. The bantamweight tournament includes four fighters who are widely thought to be among the best in the 118-pound division. For them, the single-elimination format is a chance at a bigger payday in the smaller weight division.
■
GOLF
PM’s mimicry angers Walton
Ryder cup winning golfer Philip Walton has written to Ireland’s prime minister asking him to explain why he mimicked the sportsman at a now infamous boozy night with journalists and politicians. In a statement released exclusively to Reuters on Thursday, Walton said he and his wife felt compelled to contact Brian Cowen after details of the skit appeared in newspapers and television reports. “From what I have heard and read so far, the stories are of concern to myself, my wife and also my children as they have seen reports on You Tube,” Walton said in a statement. The statement said Walton, who holed the winning putt in the 1995 Ryder Cup, felt “anger” at this week’s events.
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