SOCCER
Newcastle rename stadium
Newcastle United renamed St James’ Park stadium the Sports Direct Arena as part of the English soccer club’s plans to sell naming rights to their home of 119 years to boost revenue. The ground will be named after Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International PLC retailer until a sponsor to purchase the naming rights is found, the club said. A 2009 proposal for companies to link their brand to St James’ Park was dropped because it did not prove commercially attractive, Newcastle added.
BASEBALL
Wilson Ramos kidnapped
Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped in his native Venezuela, a spokeswoman for his Venezuelan League team, the Aragua Tigers, said on Wednesday. Spokeswoman Kathe Vilera said via her Twitter account that “this is sad, worrisome and true that Wilson Ramos has been kidnapped.” She said Ramos was taken by four armed men near his home in Santa Ines in central Venezuela. The Nationals acquired Ramos, 24, from the Minnesota Twins in a trade in July last year.
BASKETBALL
NBA still in limbo after talks
NBA owners and players talked for nearly 12 hours on Wednesday and were to meet again yesterday, but neither side sounded optimistic of a breakthrough in the bid to get the season started. NBA commissioner David Stern, who said on Sunday that the players had until “close of business” on Wednesday to accept the NBA’s latest offer, emerged from the marathon talks saying the league has “stopped the clock” and will continue to negotiate. “I would not read into this optimism or pessimism,” Stern said. “We’re not failing. We’re not succeeding. We’re just there.” Players association president Derek Fisher also emerged from the day with little encouraging to say.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Des Hasler stood down
Australian National Rugby League (NRL) champions Manly Sea Eagles have stood down their two-time title-winning coach Des Hasler over alleged “serious” breaches of contract. Hasler, who last month signed a four-year deal to coach NRL rivals Canterbury Bulldogs from 2013, was issued with a breach notice, the club said late on Wednesday. Reports said that the breaches involved Hasler attempting to induce players and backroom staff to leave Manly and join him at the Bulldogs. Hasler’s fate was sealed after a seven-hour meeting of club board members late on Wednesday. The Manly board last month decided Hasler would stay on to coach the side during the title defense next year, but reports said there now appeared little chance of that.
SOCCER
Japanese warned on N Korea
Diehard Japanese soccer fans have been warned to tone down their cheers to avoid trouble when the Blue Samurai clash with bitter rivals North Korea next week in their away World Cup qualifier. Supporters should refrain from the use of loudspeakers and spirited drum beating at the Kim Il-sung Stadium during Tuesday’s match in Pyongyang, said Nishitetsu Travel, logistical coordinator for Japan’s official tour. Japanese national flags and banners will also not be welcome “to avoid any potential troubles,” the travel agency said. “We are going to a nation with which Japan does not have diplomatic relations. Should something unexpected happen, we will not have the Japanese embassy or a consulate” to help, said Takeshi Kumai, an official with the travel agency.
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