BASEBALL
Bonds ‘ridiculous’: attorney
A US federal prosecutor said it is “ridiculous and unbelievable” that Barry Bonds thought he was taking flax seed oil and arthritis cream when his personal trainer gave him steroids. Assistant US Attorney Matt Parrella delivered the opening statement on Tuesday for federal prosecutors in Bonds’ long-awaited perjury trial. Seven years ago, Bonds told a grand jury investigating sports doping that he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs. However, Parrella said Bonds lied to the grand jury, even though the government promised not to prosecute him for drug use if he testified truthfully. When it was his turn for an opening statement, Bonds attorney Allen Ruby acknowledged that his client did take two designer steroids called the “cream” and the “clear” — but he did so unwittingly.
FOOTBALL
Owners change kickoffs
NFL owners voted to move kickoffs to the 35-yard line from the 30 starting next season and to allow all scoring plays to be reviewed, the league said on Tuesday. The NFL is hoping the modified kickoff rule, which will essentially shorten the field of play, will help to lower the number of concussions and other major injuries. The league’s competition committee wanted touchbacks moved to the 25-yard line from the 20 in a bid to increase safety by limiting coverage players from making long run-ups. However, owners, after hearing concerns from coaches, decided not to change where the ball is spotted after a touchback. They also made no change to the rule that allows blockers from the kick return team to line up in a “wedge” formation. Replay officials can now call for the referee to review any scoring play, the NFL said.
FOOTBALL
Taylor gets probation
Lawrence Taylor, a former linebacker for the New York Giants, was sentenced to six years probation in a prostitution case and must register as a sex offender after an encounter with a teen runaway last May. The NFL Hall of Famer pleaded guilty in January to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute. A hearing to decide what level of sex offender status the retired NFL star will be given is set for April 12. “This was a working girl who came into my room,” Taylor said. “She told me she was 19. It is what it is. I don’t card them. I don’t ask them for a birth certificate.” The unidentified girl, now 17, spoke outside the courtroom and said she was upset that Taylor received no jail time and that he should have known she was under the legal age of consent and not in a hotel room with him willingly.
BASKETBALL
No timeline for Duncan
San Antonio Spurs All-Star forward Tim Duncan has a sprained left ankle and there is no timeline for his return to the lineup, the NBA’s first-placed team said on Tuesday. Duncan, a two-time league most valuable player and 13-times All-Star, had an MRI on Tuesday that the team said showed no signs of structural damage. The 34-year-old forward will not travel with the Spurs on their three-game road trip that ends on Sunday in Memphis and will receive daily treatment. Duncan suffered the injury early in San Antonio’s win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday when he landed awkwardly on his left foot and collapsed to the court. He left the game and did not return.
CRICKET
Only beautiful need apply
Mumbai police, desperate to show off their city in a good light, will assign only attractive officers to oversee the World Cup final on April 2, local media said. The Daily News and Analysis newspaper said that Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik wanted “only tall, well-built, slim policemen” on duty. He added that overweight and tobacco-chewing policemen will not be working anywhere near the Wankhede Stadium on the day of the final. “There is a tendency among our policemen to behave rudely at times. This is going to be an international event and so the city police should look good and behave well,” a senior police official told the newspaper. “The commissioner said that our policemen should look smart, young and energetic. They should be able to communicate well with people, including foreigners.”
CRICKET
Dhaka-belly ails security
Sixty-four security personnel in Bangladesh, who were charged with security at the World Cup, have been laid low by food poisoning, a top police official said on Tuesday. The security men, some on duty at the main Sher-e-Bangla Stadium and others at the teams’ hotel in downtown Dhaka, were taken ill after eating chicken biryani supplied by a local contractor. “Around 80 percent of them were admitted to hospital and are getting saline drips,” Mirpur police chief Qazi Wajed Ali said. “The contractor who supplied the food has been arrested.” Ali added that reinforcements have been put in place and there was no threat to the players’ security. Bangladesh had ramped up security to “state-level” for the two quarter-finals to be held in Dhaka yesterday and tomorrow. The West Indies took on Pakistan yesterday and Bangladeshi officials were keen to avoid a repeat of the embarrassing March 4 incident when an angry mob pelted the West Indies team bus with stones.
SOCCER
J-League sets restart date
The J-League will resume on April 23 following a six-week hiatus brought about by Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. The resumption date was set after a meeting of the 38 clubs from the top tiers of the J-League, which was called off indefinitely following the March 11 disaster. J-League organizers said the clubs from Sendai, Kashima and Mito will play in alternative venues while their stadiums undergo repairs for earthquake damage. The games that have been missed during the break will be played in July, while the format of the League Cup will be shortened to make room in the schedule. All games will be played in the afternoon to save electricity, until summer when matches will be at night to avoid heat.
CHINA
Bone analysis urged
A leading Chinese sports official is calling for the implementation of bone-age analysis to stop athletes faking their birth certificates to qualify for events. Cai Zhenhua, the vice president of the State General Administration of Sport, was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s official People’s Daily newspaper that age fraud besmirches China’s national image and tramples on the principle of fair competition. Cai is also the head of the Chinese table tennis federation and says it will adopt bone-age analysis as a test case. The International Olympic Committee stripped China of its 2000 Olympic bronze medal in women’s team gymnastics for using an underage girl. The 2008 team that won gold at the 2008 Beijing Games was investigated and later cleared of age fraud.
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
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