BOXING
Briggs fined over illness
Western Australia’s boxing commission has fined Paul Briggs A$75,000 (US$74,870) for not declaring a medical issue which limited his ability to contest a world cruiserweight title bout in July which lasted just 29 seconds before he was knocked down by Danny Green. The Western Australian Professional Combat Sports Commission released its findings yesterday and sanctioned Briggs and his trainer Billy Hussein for failing to disclose that issues with the boxer’s nervous system meant he was not fit enough to participate in the IBO title fight. Briggs received US$200,000 for the fight, but was heavily criticized for apparently going down very easily to a Green punch.
SOCCER
Flores records doping test
A Bolivian player injected some imagination into proceedings when called for his second doping test of the year by recording the event on his mobile phone. Walter Flores, a midfielder with top side Bolivar, tested positive for cocaine in April only to be cleared of using the banned substance when world ruling body FIFA said anti-doping procedures had not been followed properly. Flores was handed a two-year ban by the South American Football Confederation two months after a urine sample from him tested positive for cocaine. The decision was annulled when Flores appealed to FIFA.
SOCCER
Independiente fined
Argentina’s Independiente have been fined US$20,000 and ordered to play their next Copa Sudamericana match at a neutral venue after crowd trouble at their home ground, the South American Football Confederation said on Tuesday. Goalkeeper Martin Silva of visiting Uruguayan side Defensor Sporting suffered a cut in his head from a stone thrown from the terraces before the second-half kickoff in the match at Independiente’s Libertadores de America stadium on Oct. 19. The Uruguayan team’s officials wanted the match suspended, but the referee refused and Silva played on with his head heavily bandaged. Independiente won the second leg of the second round tie 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals 4-3 on aggregate.
SOCCER
FA warns Spurs’ manager
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was warned by the Football Association (FA) on Tuesday about his conduct after he criticized referee Mark Clattenburg’s performance at the weekend. The FA did not charge Redknapp over his criticism of Clattenburg’s decision to allow Manchester United’s second goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham. The Tottenham manager was furious that Nani’s goal for United was allowed to stand. The Portugal winger scored after Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes put the ball down in the belief that a free kick had been awarded for Nani’s handball.
SOCCER
Serie A talks planned
Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete said he would arrange preliminary talks between the Serie A league and the Italian Players’ Association (AIC) in a bid to avert a proposed strike. The two sides are deadlocked over a collective bargaining agreement that has twice led to the AIC calling for strike action in Serie A. “Tomorrow we will formalize the proposal for a political meeting between the presidents of the League and of the AIC to see if the conditions needed to return to the negotiating table are in place,” Abete said.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with