BASEBALL
Hideki Irabu found dead
The Japanese baseball fraternity was shocked and saddened by yesterday’s news that former New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu was found dead in a Los Angeles suburb after an apparent suicide. Before going to the major leagues, Irabu was one of the most dominant pitchers in Japanese Professional Baseball. “He was an outstanding pitcher on his best days and a horrible one on his worst days,” said Robert Whiting, author of several books on Japanese baseball. “A real puzzle. He seemed to have a lot of anger inside him, which perhaps came from his rather unusual childhood.” Irabu’s father was a US serviceman who left Japan after Hideki was born without leaving a forwarding address. His mother was an Okinawan who remarried a restaurateur from Osaka, who raised Hideki.
GOLF
Woods to return at Firestone
Tiger Woods is finally set to get back to golf next week at the Bridgestone Invitational, ending an 11-week break to heal injuries to his left leg. It marks the third-longest layoff of his career, but this time Woods returns with as much uncertainty about his future as ever. Along with questions about the strength of his left knee and Achilles’ tendon, Woods embarks on his latest comeback with a new caddie and without guarantees he will be eligible for more than two weeks. Woods has plunged to world No. 21 and has gone more than 20 months since his last win.
FOOTBALL
Flurry of NFL trades
The New England Patriots acquired Albert Haynesworth and Chad Ochocinco in a couple of big moves on Thursday among a flurry of trades by NFL teams seeking to make up for time lost in the labor lockout. Reggie Bush moved from New Orleans to Miami and the Kevin Kolb saga ended as expected, with a trade from Philadelphia to Arizona. Day 3 of the compressed, post-lockout offseason also included more contract agreements and plenty of cuts, which teams were finally allowed to start announcing. Among the players getting released were Vince Young by Tennessee, Nate Clements by San Francisco and Jake Delhomme by Cleveland. In the first dramatic example of how the new labor deal’s rookie salary system will affect elite players, No. 2 overall draft pick Von Miller got US$21 million guaranteed over four years from Denver.
ICE HOCKEY
Canucks keep Hansen
The Vancouver Canucks have avoided arbitration with Jannik Hansen by signing the Danish right wing to an extension contract, the team said on Thursday. Drafted by the Canucks in 2004, the 25-year-old signed a new three year deal. Financial terms were not announced. Hansen, 25, had career highs for assists (20), points (29) and games played (82) during the Canucks’ Western Conference title season.
ICE HOCKEY
Islanders acquire Rolston
The New York Islanders have acquired center Brian Rolston and a conditional draft pick for next year from the New Jersey Devils for right wing Trent Hunter, the teams said on Thursday. The 38-year-old Rolston, a 2007 All-Star who has spent the past three seasons with the Devils, collected 14 goals and 34 points in 65 games last season.
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