FOOTBALL
Joke on Johnson after fine
Buffalo Bills receiver Stevie Johnson wanted to poke a little fun at the Cincinnati Bengals with a cinematic catchphrase from Batman villain the Joker, but the last laugh was on him. Johnson said on Wednesday that he has been fined US$5,000 by the NFL for his celebration of a touchdown reception last Sunday. After scoring, Johnson pulled up his jersey to reveal a message written in big black letters on his undershirt — “Why So Serious?” Johnson took the phrase from lines uttered by the Heath Ledger when he portrayed the Batman baddie in the film The Dark Knight. The move was aimed at Cincinnati receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, who have called themselves “Batman and Robin.” “I was having fun with it,” Johnson said. “They play the Batman and Robin thing, so I wanted to come in and be the Joker.”
BASEBALL
Guerrero scoops award
Vladimir Guerrero, who helped the Texas Rangers reach the first World Series in their 50 seasons, was named on Wednesday as winner of Major League Baseball’s Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. The nine-time major league all-star took 61 of 84 first-place votes to out-poll runner-up David Ortiz of Boston. Guerrero batted .306 with 25 home runs, driving in 106 runs and scoring 73 times in 129 games played as a designated hitter, used to replace pitchers in the batting lineup by American League teams and in games at AL ballparks. Guerrero, who struck out only 56 times in 523 plate appearances, also played 23 games as an outfielder and had overall batting totals of 30 homers, 115 runs batted in and 83 runs scored with a .300 average.
TENNIS
Champ to miss Aussie Open
Two-time defending champion Serena Williams pulled out of January’s Australian Open yesterday as she continues her lengthy recovery from a freak foot injury. The US star said she suffered “further injury and damage” after returning to intense training following a second operation on her foot, which she cut on broken glass in a restaurant in July. “As I continue to rehabilitate my foot after the second surgery last month, it is with the utmost regret that I am withdrawing from the Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open Championships,” she said in a statement. “As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage.”
TENNIS
Paris plans get green light
Controversial plans to increase the size of Roland Garros, the home of the French Open, received a boost on Wednesday. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) has been looking at ways to either expand the existing venue or relocate the French Open to a new site in the capital’s suburbs. The problem facing the French tennis authorities comes down to space — Roland Garros at 8.5 hectares is less than half the size of Wimbledon, which boasts 18.5 hectares. Possible new homes that were said to be under consideration in the Paris suburbs were Versailles, Marne-la-Vallee, Evry and Gonesse. However, the plan to renovate the existing premises looks to be the favored option after a special commission made up of elected officials, architects and historians, gave it the thumbs-up with 13 votes for, eight against, and two abstentions. The project would involve expanding Roland Garros to create a new 5,000 seater court. Those against the idea have expressed disquiet at the loss of conservation areas surrounding the venue. A final decision must be made by February.
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