SWIMMING
Australia faces health scare
Swimming Australia has canceled its last warmup meet before the London Olympics after a water polo coach and two players who train at the venue were diagnosed with whooping cough. Swimming Australia said it called off a relay camp and the meet at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), due to start tomorrow, as a precaution after the women’s water polo team was placed in isolation in Canberra. Olympic swimmers have been advised to continue training in their home cities until leaving to fine-tune in Europe. Swimming Australia head coach Leigh Nugent said he had spoken with AIS officials and, “while we are comfortable with the procedures they have put in place, we have decided to take this precaution.” The cancelation was a setback for the strong Australian squad as it removed a good chance for competitive racing ahead of the London Games. The AIS said in a statement it was treating the whooping cough outbreak “very seriously” and would continue to work closely with the institute’s own health professionals and the provincial health authorities to reduce any potential risk.
GOLF
Casey returns to BMW
After injury forced him out of the US Open last week, Paul Casey returns to play in the BMW International Open in Cologne, Germany, determined to qualify for the European Ryder Cup team. The Englishman could not compete in San Francisco because of continuing problems since dislocating his right shoulder in a snow-boarding mishap in January. It was only the third major Casey has missed since playing his first at the British Open in 2002. Casey says “this week really now is the start of my season.” Casey is 60th in the world rankings and 30th on the European Ryder Cup points table. He was a member of the winning teams in 2004 and 2006, but lost in 2008 and missed out in 2010 with Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald preferred as wild cards.
TENNIS
Clijsters makes quarters
Kim Clijsters advanced to the UNICEF Open quarter-finals with an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine on Tuesday. The win on grass a week ahead of Wimbledon was just Clijster’s second since returning from a three-month hip injury. She lost the opening set to Romina Oprandi on Sunday and struggled in the second before taking control of that match. “Bondarenko’s playing style suits me a lot better,” she said. Clijsters played more aggressively and saved the only break point she faced. Among the men, top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain beat Pierre-Ludovic Duclos of Canada 6-4, 6-4 in a first-round match.
CRICKET
Vettori throws hat back in
Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori wants to return to the short form of the game at this year’s International Cricket Council World Twenty20 tournament in Sri Lanka, officials said yesterday. The 33-year-old spinner announced last year that he was taking an indefinite break from one-dayers and Twenty20 cricket to concentrate on his Test career after representing New Zealand in all forms of the game since 1997. However, New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said Vettori, the world’s top-ranked Twenty20 bowler in 2009, had declared himself available for the September-October tournament. “[He] is widely regarded as one of the best Twenty20 exponents in world cricket,” White said.
BASKETBALL
Cuba national players defect
Five members of Cuba’s national team defected on Tuesday in Puerto Rico, where their team were playing in a regional tournament, an official with the FIBA said. The five played on Monday against the Bahamas, who beat Cuba 81-68 on the opening night of the CentroBasket 2012 tournament. “After the game they went to their hotel. Today it was discovered that the five players weren’t there,” said Anibal Garcia, the sports director of FIBA Americas. He said the players apparently checked out of their hotel at about 1am on Tuesday. The Puerto Rican daily El Nuevo Dia, in its online edition, said the five had begun the process of obtaining permission to stay on the island, although their whereabouts was not immediately known. FIBA Americas identified the five players as Juan Carlo Pineiro, Ismael Romero Fernandez, Leonel Batista Aguero, Yudniel Perez Arango and Enrique Ramos Abad.
OLYMPICS
NZOC okays Marina Erakovic
The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) stretched its own rules to approve the selection of tennis player Marina Erakovic for the London Games. The NZOC requires New Zealand athletes selected for an Olympics to have strong likelihood of finishing in the top 16 in their events. Erakovic is ranked No. 45 in the world and now takes her place in the 64-strong draw for the women’s Olympic tournament. Secretary-general Kereyn Smith said the NZOC “makes no apologies” for delaying its decision on Erakovic’s selection. She said the committee had taken into account Erakovic had twice beaten top-16 players this season and had reached the last 16 in four tennis tournaments this year.
RUGBY UNION
Beale back with Wallabies
Fullback Kurtley Beale returns to the Wallabies lineup for the first time since last year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia’s team to play Wales in the third Test on Saturday. Utility back Mike Harris, who came on to kick the winning penalty after the final siren in the second Test, was omitted from the squad announced on Tuesday, along with winger Cooper Vuna, who evaded suspension for a dangerous tackle on Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny. Beale has been recovering from a shoulder injury sustained in last month’s Super Rugby match between the Melbourne Rebels and the Hurricanes. Australia clinched the series against Six Nations champions Wales with a 25-23 win in Melbourne on Saturday, after claiming the opening match in Brisbane 27-19.
CRICKET
Misbah suspended for Test
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was suspended from the first Test against Sri Lanka because of a “serious over-rate offense” during the fifth and final one-day international, which the hosts won, the ICC said on Tuesday. The Pakistan side were ruled to be three overs short of their target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration, the ICC said in a statement. It was Pakistan’s “first serious over-rate offense in the past 12 months,” match referee Chris Broad said as he handed Misbah two suspension points, while each of his players received a 40 percent fine from their match fees. It said the charge against Pakistan was laid by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and the home country umpire Ranmore Martinesz as well as third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge and fourth umpire Nilan de Silva. “Misbah pleaded guilty to the charge and the subsequent penalties were accepted without the need for a formal hearing,” the statement added.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB