PARALYMPICS
Men arrested on sex charges
Three men linked to Jordan’s Paralympic team were arrested and charged in Northern Ireland following allegations of sexual assault, British media reported on Tuesday. It was not clear if the men were athletes or supporting members of Jordan’s team. Jordan’s squad is one of several national teams training in a sports center in Antrim, northwest of Belfast, ahead of the Paralympic Games that start on Wednesday and end on Sept. 9. Northern Irish police said three men were arrested for questioning in the Antrim area on Monday “in relation to allegations of indecent assault.” Police said that one of the men, a 23-year-old, was charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of sexual assault on a woman and voyeurism. A second man, aged 35, was charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child, and the third, aged 36, was charged with one count of sexual assault on a woman. The three men were expected to appear in Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday.
RUGBY
Argentina make one change
Argentina made one starting change for their home debut in the Rugby Championship against South Africa, bringing in Martin Rodriguez to replace Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino at fullback. Coach Santiago Phelan would name his reserves bench for Saturday’s match at the Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza today, the Argentine Rugby Union said on its Web site. Argentina, who joined Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in an expanded southern hemisphere rugby championship this year, opened their campaign with a 27-6 defeat to the Springboks in Cape Town four days ago.
RUGBY
Graham Henry joins Blues
World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry is to join the Auckland Blues as a technical advisor to help the Super 15 franchise rebuild after a disappointing season, the club announced yesterday. The Blues said Henry would work with new head coach John Kirwan, who replaced Pat Lam last month after the three-times champions finished 12th on the ladder with 12 losses and four wins. Henry, who stepped down as All Blacks coach after guiding the team to victory in last year’s World Cup, was in charge of the Blues from 1996 to 1998, when they won two of their titles. Kirwan said Mick Byrne and Grant Doorey, who both previously worked with him when he coached Japan, would also join the coaching team.
RUGBY
Wallabies’ Kepu injured
Wallaby prop Sekope Kepu has joined skipper David Pocock on the Australian injury list and will miss Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup encounter with the All Blacks in Auckland. The powerful Kepu sustained a strain to the medial ligament of his right knee in training on Tuesday, an injury that can typically sideline a player for a month, the Australian Rugby Union said. It is another blow for the Wallabies, who are reeling from news that Pocock could be out of action for three months after a knee operation on Tuesday. Halfback Will Genia, who captained Australia once before against the US in last year’s World Cup, has been confirmed as the new skipper. He will be Australia’s fourth captain in barely 12 months, with first-choice James Horwill ruled out of the four June Tests and the Rugby Championship with a hamstring injury. He took over from Rocky Elsom. Australia are to unveil their side for Saturday’s do-or-die Bledisloe Cup clash today.
agencies
TENNIS
Federer seeded first in Open
Five-time champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer was confirmed on Tuesday as the top men’s seed at the US Open, the last Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year that starts on Monday at Flushing Meadows in New York. Defending champion Novak Djokovic is seeded second and world No. 4 Andy Murray of Britain, who won Olympic gold at Wimbledon, is seeded third — higher than his world ranking because of the injury absence of Spain’s Rafael Nadal. Spain’s David Ferrer is seeded fourth. The singles draw for the tournament, which runs from Monday to Sept. 9, will be made today. Federer, who won his 17th Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, has won six titles this year, including his seventh Wimbledon title and three ATP Masters Series titles. The Swiss great won five straight US Open titles from 2004 to 2008.
TENNIS
Referee accused of murder
A prominent professional tennis referee who was preparing to work at the US Open in New York City was arrested on Tuesday on a felony murder warrant accusing her of bludgeoning her elderly husband to death with a coffee mug. Lois Ann Goodman, 70, was taken into custody on a warrant filed a week ago by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charging her with the April 17 slaying of her husband, Alan Goodman, who was 80 years old, prosecutors said. The district attorney’s office said Goodman would remain in custody in New York while awaiting extradition to Los Angeles, where she faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said they would ask for her bail to be set at US$1 million. She is accused of killing her husband by beating him to death with a coffee mug at the couple’s home in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. Goodman is well known in tennis circles and was preparing to serve as a referee at the US Open Tennis Championships tournament, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Jane Robison said.
FOOTBALL
Vick’s ribs not broken
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s rib injury is a contusion with no broken bones or cartilage damage, the NFL team said on Tuesday. The diagnosis, after MRI and CT scans, was good news for the Eagles, who saw Vick depart a pre-season victory over New England in the first quarter on Monday night after absorbing a hard hit. Vick was taken to the locker room for X-rays, which came back negative. Rookie quarterback Nick Foles will start on Friday’s pre-season contest against the Cleveland Browns if Vick cannot play. In 13 games last season, Vick threw for 3,303 yards, 18 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, but also missed playing time with broken ribs.
SOCCER
Man United sign Buttner
Manchester United have completed the signing of Dutch defender Alexander Buttner from Vitesse Arnhem on a five-year contract, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday. The 23-year-old, who was part of the preliminary Dutch squad for Euro 2012, has made 119 appearances over the last four years at the Eredivisie club. “Alexander is one of the best young left backs in Europe and we’re delighted to sign him,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told the club’s official Web site. “He’s someone we’ve been watching for a while now. He gives us some really exciting options in that position.”
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