BOBSLED
Swiss duo take world title
Switzerland’s Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter won the two-man event and the World Cup bobsled title on Friday in the season finale at Calgary Olympic Park. Hefti and Lamparter edged Germany’s Manual Machata and Andreas Bredau by 0.01 seconds. Germany’s Maximilian Arndt and Kevin Kuske were third, 0.26 seconds back, and finished second in the season standings. In the women’s event, Canada’s Kaillie Humphries and Jennifer Ciochetti won their first race together. Humphries won last week with Emily Baadsvik in Whistler, British Columbia, on the track where the Calgary pilot won the Olympic gold medal two year ago. Germany’s Anja Schneiderheinze and Lisette Thoene were second, followed by teammates Sandra Kiriasis and Petra Lammert. Another German pair, Cathleen Martini and Janine Tisher finished fifth and won the world title.
CYCLING
Hangzhou to host tour
China will host a new round of cycling’s WorldTour series, the Tour of Hangzhou, at the end of the season, world governing body UCI announced on Friday. The five-stage race will take place from Oct. 17 until Oct. 21 in the city of 8.7 million people, which is close to Shanghai, and will follow the Tour of Beijing which has already been penciled in for Oct 10 to Oct. 14. The Tour of Hangzhou will be the fifth round of the WorldTour to be staged outside of Europe.
ATHLETICS
Teen blazes competition
Teenage French sprinter Jimmy Vicaut registered the best 60m indoors performance of the year on Friday when he clocked 6.53 seconds in Dusseldorf. Vicaut, who was sixth in the 100m final outdoors at the world championships in Daegu last summer, edged out America’s Joshua Norman, who timed 6.63 seconds. Three other season bests were recorded on Friday — in the 1,500m and 5,000m by Kenyan duo Nixon Chepseba and Thomas Longosiwa respectively and in the 800m by Poland’s Adam Kszczot.
FORMULA ONE
Alonso quickest in testing
Ferrari finished Formula One’s first preseason test on a high note as Fernando Alonso was fastest in Friday’s session. The Spanish double world champion had a quickest lap of 1 minute, 18.877 seconds to go 0.7 seconds faster than the field. The Italians rebounded from a subdued start with the second-fastest time this week among this season’s designs, although Alonso’s running was restricted to 39 laps because of a hydraulics problem. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was second on Friday ahead of defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, whose best lap was 1 minute, 19.606 seconds. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for McLaren in front of Lotus’ Romain Grosjean.
SAILING
Skipper avoids sanction
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Ben Ainslie has escaped further sanctions from British yachting’s governing body for grappling with a cameraman during a race. Ainslie was disqualified from races at the world sailing championships last year after being found guilty of gross misconduct by the International Sailing Federation. The Royal Yachting Association’s tribunal announced on Friday that “it would not be appropriate ... to impose a penalty over and above that imposed by the international jury.” Ainslie jumped from his dinghy and confronted the cameraman after being angered by the media boat creating a wash by being too close to the race.
SOCCER
Wolfsburg edge Freiburg
Petr Jiracek scored two goals as Wolfsburg edged out bottom-place Freiburg 3-2 in Bundesliga on Friday. Freiburg twice came back to level, but had no answer after Jiracek’s second goal in the 61st minute proved to be the winner. The game was held in freezing weather and light snowfall and it got off to a fast start with Jiracek putting the home side ahead after five minutes. Johannes Flum leveled in the 11th, but Marcel Schaefer made it 2-1 for Wolfsburg in the 14th. Daniel Caligiuri leveled again in the 38th before Jiracek’s second sealed Wolfsburg’s seventh home victory.
HOCKEY
Alleged fondling coach dies
Ukrainian ice hockey coach Ivan Pravilov, a noted youth instructor who had pleaded innocent to charges of fondling a teen boy, died of a suspected suicide, police said on Friday. Pravilov, who was 49, was in custody when he was found to be unresponsive in his cell at about 3am, according to prison spokesman Darrin Howard, who said a preliminary investigation suggested he took his own life. An autopsy was pending, Howard said. Pravilov, who served as an instructor for several NHL and US collegiate players, was indicted last month on charges he fondled a 14-year-old Ukrainian boy who was attending youth hockey clinics in Philadelphia. Pravilov was charged with travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct and transporting a person to engage in criminal sexual activity, US federal prosecutors said. Pravilov faced up to 40 years in prison and a US$500,000 fine if convicted.
OLYMPICS
Rio not worried about strike
Rio Olympic organizers said they were confident preparations for the 2016 Games would not be affected by the police strike that is threatening to disrupt Carnival celebrations in the city. Rio’s Olympic committee said in a statement on Friday that it remains “fully confident” in the public security policies in place in the city. The committee said the Olympics and the test events scheduled before the Games would take place as usual. Rio state officers went on strike on Thursday to demand a salary increase, prompting fears of an increase in violence. The Olympic committee said a democratic state such as Brazil must allow workers to make demands, adding that “common sense” and “dialogue” should prevail.
ALPINE SKIING
Feuz wins downhill
Emerging Swiss standout Beat Feuz celebrated his 25th birthday by winning the inaugural World Cup downhill yesterday on the course for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. For his third win of the season, Feuz clocked 2 minutes, 14.10 seconds down the long and highly technical Rosa Khutor slope. Another 25-year-old, Benjamin Thomsen of Canada, finished second, 0.27 seconds behind, and Adrien Theaux of France was third, 0.59 back. Veteran Bode Miller of the US was fastest midway down, but then made a big mistake and finished fourth, missing the podium by just 0.02 seconds.
ALPINE SKIING
Schild wins slalom
Austrian Marlies Schild won a women’s World Cup slalom in Soldeu, Andorra, yesterday. Schild clocked in at a combined 1 minute, 39.44 seconds, while Sweden’s Frida Hansdotter came just 0.6 seconds behind to land in second place. Austria’s Kathrin Zettel was 0.86 seconds back to finish third.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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