FOOTBALL
Charity callers get phone sex
NFL fans never know what to expect from Chad Ochocinco, but even they were probably surprised when dialing a number from a charity cereal box featuring the attention-seeking Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and getting a phone-sex line. A typo on the cereal box sent callers to a seductive-sounding woman instead of Feed The Children, a charity that benefits from Ochocinco’s limited edition toasted oats cereal, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on its Web site. “You must be 18 or older to get into this party, baby,” the woman said before asking for a credit card number. A spokesman for Feed The Children said the charity appeared to be at fault.
FOOTBALL
Jets sign Trevor Pryce
The New York Jets have signed four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Trevor Pryce in bid to boost their defensive line, the NFL team said on Thursday. The 35-year-old Pryce, released by the Baltimore Ravens on Wednesday, played under current Jets head coach Rex Ryan when he was a defensive coordinator in Baltimore. Pryce led the Ravens with six-and-half sacks and had 31 tackles last year, but has made only one tackle this season as a non-starter for the 2-1 Ravens.
EQUESTRIAN
US win individual reining
Tom McCutcheon won gold and US teammate Craig Schmersal took the silver in individual reining on Thursday at the World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. McCutcheon, aboard Gunners Special Nite, finished with a score of 228.0. Schmersal, aboard Mister Montana Nic, had a 223.0, followed by Canada’s Duane Latimer on Dun Playin Tag at 222.5 for bronze. The eventing competition got under way with the first of two days of dressage. Simone Deitermann and Ingrid Klimke of Germany were first and second, respectively, with Great Britain’s William Fox-Pitt in third. In team competition, Germany leads Australia with Sweden in third. The US is in fifth.
VOLLEYBALL
Brazil rebound after loss
Defending champions Brazil recovered from their loss to Cuba in the first round to comfortably beat Poland on the first day of the second round of the volleyball world championship in Milan on Thursday. Brazil started strongly, were always in control and eventually won 25-16, 25-20, 25-20. The Czech Republic upset reigning Olympic champions the UnS. The 25-19, 25-22, 25-22 victory puts Jan Svodoba’s team in pole position in the group, with both teams still to meet Cameroon. Also on Thursday, there were wins for Russia, Germany, Serbia and Argentina.
MOTOGP
Pedrosa breaks collarbone
Spain’s Dani Pedrosa’s chances of winning the MotoGP Championship almost certainly ended yesterday after he broke his collarbone in a crash during practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at the Motegi circuit in Japan. The Honda rider, the only man who can stop Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo from grabbing his first season title, crashed at a V-shape corner within the first five minutes, having completed only two laps. The 25-year-old was seen limping away from his bike immediately after the crash and X-rays confirmed that he suffered a triple fracture to his left collarbone, said Daisuke Naoi, a circuit spokesman. With five races left in the season, Pedrosa is 56 points behind Lorenzo, who has collected 284 points so far.
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