CYCLING
Brutt takes Romandie stage
Russia’s Pavel Brutt saw boldness pay off at last when he won the 172.6km first stage of the Tour of Romandie on Wednesday. The Katusha rider, known for his swashbuckling but usually unsuccessful victory bids, joined forces with three other riders soon after the start in Martigny and used the three climbs to drop them one by one and cross the line on his own in Leysin. Winner of a Giro d’Italia stage in 2008, Brutt dislodged Jonathan Castroviejo from top spot after the Spaniard won Tuesday’s prologue and now comfortably leads two of his breakaway companions overall. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Kavachuk is second, one minute behind and Belarus rider Branislav Samoilav is third, 1:22 adrift.
BASEBALL
Yankees leak account data
The New York Yankees leaked account information for about 17,000 season-ticket holders, the Major League Baseball team said. An employee “mistakenly attached an internal Yankees spreadsheet” to correspondence to several hundred ticket holders on Monday, the team said in a letter to account holders. Names, addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone and fax numbers were disseminated, along with seat numbers, Yankee account numbers, account representatives’ names and ticket package codes.
CRICKET
Youngster sets record
Wicketkeeper Barney Gibson has broken a 144-year record to become the youngest first-class cricketer in England. Aged just 15 years and 27 days, Gibson started Yorkshire’s three-day county championship match against Durham University on Wednesday. Gibson surpasses the record set by Charles Young in 1867 when Hampshire selected him at 15 years and 131 days old, according to ESPN CricInfo. Gibson told the Web site of Yorkshire newspaper the Telegraph & Argus that his school had “sent me up here with some homework.”
BASEBALL
MLB, McCourt tussle
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt planned to continue running the club after saying on Wednesday that Major League Baseball vetoed a US$300 million media contract he had struck with Fox Broadcasting Company. McCourt, whose Dodgers franchise has been taken over by MLB due to mounting concern over its financial plight, traveled to New York to outline the deal in a bid to wrest back financial control of his team. MLB, however, later denied that any veto had taken place, saying instead it “would make no decision on any transaction until after [an] investigation into the club and its finances.” The Dodgers have been one of baseball’s top franchises, but have been gripped by in-fighting since McCourt’s wife, Jamie, filed for divorce in October 2009 after over 30 years of marriage.
BASEBALL
Coach under investigation
Major League Baseball has launched an investigation after a man on Wednesday accused Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell of “highly inappropriate conduct toward fans.” According to Justin Quinn, McDowell made homophobic comments and crude sexual gestures to three male fans sitting in the bleachers during pre-game batting practice at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Saturday. Quinn, who was also in the stands with his wife and their nine-year-old twin daughters, called out “Hey, there are kids out here,” before McDowell allegedly threatened to knock out his teeth with a baseball bat.
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