BASEBALL
Clemens used HGH: Pettitte
New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte told jurors in the perjury trial of former teammate Roger Clemens in Washington on Tuesday that Clemens admitted to him 12 years ago that he had used human growth hormone. Pettitte, attempting a baseball comeback with the Yankees at age 39, made a surprise appearance at the perjury trial of Clemens, a retired legend who told a 2008 US Congressional hearing that he never took performance-enhancing drugs. All that Pettitte said he could recall about the details of the key conversation with Clemens is that Clemens mentioned that he had taken human growth hormones and they could help him recover from injury. Pettitte said the remarks came in passing during a workout session between the 1999 and 2000 Major League Baseball seasons. When presented with a similar statement from Pettitte to Congressional investigators four years ago at the hearing where he is charged with lying when denying he was a dope cheat, Clemens said Pettitte “misremembered” the remarks. Pettitte, who retired last year after 16 major league seasons, has admitted that he received human growth hormone (HGH) from Brian McNamee, the trainer who worked with Clemens and Pettitte.
SOCCER
Cruz Azul held, Nacional win
Cruz Azul of Mexico were held to a 1-1 home draw by Paraguay’s Libertad, while Argentina’s Velez Sarsfield recorded a valuable 1-0 away win at Colombia’s Atletico Nacional on Tuesday in the first leg of their Copa Libertadores round-of-16 matches. Javier Orozco put Cruz Azul ahead in the 27th minute, but Pablo Velazquez equalized for Libertad in the 70th. Ivan Bella scored Velez’s only goal in the eighth minute at Atletico Nacional. In Mexico City, Velazquez headed in the equalizer for Libertad, with substitute goalkeeper Yosgart Gutierrez stranded after failing to claim the ball from a cross. Orozco had given Cruz Azul the lead when he tapped in after Maranhao nodded the ball across the goal. Cruz Azul went close to getting a second on a number of occasions, with Argentine Christian Gimenez shooting jut wide from 30m in the 32nd. Substitute Emanuel Villa had Cruz Azul’s best chance of the game in the 79th, but he shot over the crossbar from close range with only the goalkeeper to beat. In Medellin, Colombia, Atletico Nacional came into the game as the tournament’s highest goalscorers, with 16 goals in six games, but were kept at bay by a man-of-the-match performance from Velez goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero. The only goal came when Bella found space, cut in from the left and struck the ball into the far corner with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area.
FORMULA ONE
Alonso thrills home crowd
Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari fans something to cheer about at the team’s home track by leading the opening session of Formula One’s first in-season testing session in four years. Alonso clocked 1 minute, 22.444 seconds around the Mugello circuit in Scarperia, Italy, a significant 1.204 seconds faster than Mark Webber of Red Bull. Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso was third fastest, 1.447 back. The session began in wet conditions, then slowly dried out, although the rain returned for the afternoon session, and the morning times stood as fastest for the day. More testing was scheduled for yesterday and today, when Red Bull’s reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel is slated to take to the track. The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix on May 13.
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