SOCCER
Beckam video scores a hit
David Beckham’s 69-second video showing him bending three soccer balls into a trio of faraway trash cans on a Losa Angeles beach has received more than 1.3 million hits on YouTube. However, Beckham was somewhat evasive when asked in Toronto on Tuesday if the amazing video, done for a popular soft drink label, was real or doctored. “Of course,” the former England captain told the Toronto Star. “I spent five or six hours on the beach so I had a lot of time to practice.” Wearing khaki shorts and a white shirt, Beckham puts down a soft drink he is holding and drifts three balls into the trash cans while people off camera express shock and admiration. The stunt is all the more amazing because the former Manchester United star is barefoot. Beckham then speaks into the camera and says “told you.”
CRICKET
India, Pakistan resume ties
India and Pakistan have agreed to resume direct sporting ties, including cricket games, which were frozen after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, reports said yesterday. The decision comes two weeks Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani watched together as their respective teams played in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup in northwest India. Several Indian newspapers cited unidentified government sources as saying the question of precisely when and where the first cricket series between the rivals might take place would be decided by the two national cricket boards.
EQUESTRIAN
Kentucky Derby bars winner
Richard Dutrow Jr, the trainer of 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown, was denied a license to operate in Kentucky three weeks before the first race in thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s License Review Committee on Wednesday issued its unanimous decision to refuse Dutrow a license this year because of “conduct that is against the best interest of horse racing.” Dutrow has been cited for rules violations 64 times at 15 tracks in nine states, Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, said in a letter requesting a review of the trainer, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
CRICKET
West Indies drop oldies
The West Indies have dropped experienced batting trio Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan for the upcoming one-day internationals against Pakistan. A statement from the West Indies Cricket Board said the trio had been left out of squad for the opening two games in the five-match series as part of a policy to encourage the development of younger players. The move comes after widespread disappointment with the displays from senior players during the recent World Cup, where the West Indies again failed to impress. Nonetheless, the dropping of three former captains who have made up the bulk of the Caribbean runmaking in the past five years is a drastic move. Jamaican Gayle is 31, Sarwan is 30 and fellow Guyanese Chanderpaul is 36. Ernest Hilaire, chief executive of the board, said the aim was to bring in players who could improve on the disappointing World Cup campaign which ended with a quarter-final defeat to Pakistan.
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