SOCCER
Hillsborough files coming
Official documents on the Hillsborough tragedy in which 96 soccer fans died at an FA Cup semi-final more than 20 years ago will be made public, the British government said on Monday. British Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field said on Monday that it has given all government papers related to the 1989 disaster to the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which is looking at the incident again. The panel will release them to families of the dead and make them publicly available. An inquest jury in 1991 ruled that the deaths at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium were accidental, but South Yorkshire Police were strongly criticized for their actions. Officers herded about 2,000 Liverpool fans into caged-in enclosures that were already full, resulting in many being crushed and suffocating. Following an impassioned debate triggered by an online petition signed by 140,000 people, British lawmakers backed a largely symbolic motion calling for full disclosure.
BASEBALL
McCourt divorce case settled
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt on Monday said they had settled their divorce case, putting an end to a feud that had further complicated the MLB team’s bankruptcy proceedings. Jamie McCourt, who had opposed the proposed sale of the Dodgers’ media rights, will now support the process, according to a joint statement. The club, which filed for bankruptcy in June, wants to hold an auction of its broadcast rights, saying this can help refinance the team. That would also enable Frank McCourt to hold onto the team after the bankruptcy. However, MLB has opposed the auction, disputed the team’s need for bankruptcy and questioned McCourt’s spending, launching a legal battle to control the bankruptcy process. Earlier this month, it was disclosed that a retired federal judge was appointed as mediator to try to bring MLB and Frank McCourt together, according to an order from Delaware’s bankruptcy court.
BASKETBALL
Turiaf joins Villeurbanne
New York Knicks center Ronny Turiaf will become the sixth NBA-based Frenchman to play in the French league when he joins Villeurbanne ASVEL during the NBA lock-out, the Pro A team said on Monday. “I will be on the plane on Wednesday and I hope to take part in my first training session by the end of the week,” Turiaf told the club’s Web site. Turiaf will join San Antonio Spur and three-times NBA champion Tony Parker at ASVEL after Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers) joined Nancy, Pape Sy (Atlanta Hawks) signed with Gravelines, Ian Mahinmi (Dallas Mavericks) went to Le Havre and Boris Diaw (Charlotte Bobcats) joined second division Bordeaux. NBA commissioner David Stern warned that the entire season could be in jeopardy if significant progress toward a collective agreement was not make this week.
SOCCER
Beckham may visit Asia
Soccer superstar David Beckham looks set to visit Singapore and Indonesia on a promotional tour in the coming weeks, organizers said yesterday. Beckham and his LA Galaxy team are “80 percent” confirmed to stop off in Southeast Asia en route to their friendly game in Melbourne in early December, a promoter said. She said tentative dates for Singapore, where Galaxy would meet fans and run a soccer clinic for youngsters, are between Dec. 1 and Dec. 3, adding that the team is also planning a friendly in Jakarta in late November.
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