BOXING
Death linked to medicine
Five-time World Boxing Champion Johnny Tapia died of heart disease exacerbated by prescription drugs, an autopsy report released on Wednesday concluded. The 45-year-old boxer, who was found dead at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, died as a result of complications from hypertensive heart disease. Prescription drugs were a contributing factor, the autopsy report said. The cause of death was an accident. Tapia’s wife first released the results on Wednesday, saying her husband died of heart disease and had no illegal drugs in his system. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s, and eventually won five world boxing championships in three weight classes: super flyweight, bantamweight and featherweight. His final professional boxing record was 59 wins, five losses and two draws. Thirty of his wins were knock-outs. In 2007, he planned a comeback bout against Ilido Julio dubbed “The Final Fury.” A month later he was found unconscious of a cocaine overdose and was eventually taken into custody for violating his parole stemming from a prior cocaine offense. Tapia was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father was murdered when his mother was pregnant with him, and his mother was later murdered when he was eight years old.
MOTOGP
Ducati replace Rossi
Ducati have selected Andrea Dovizioso to replace fellow Italian rider Valentino Rossi for the next two seasons, the MotoGP team announced on Wednesday. Yamaha Tech 3’s Dovizioso, 26, will join teammate Nicky Hayden at Ducati until 2014 after seven-time MotoGP world champion Rossi opted to switch back to Yamaha next season. “The agreement reached with Andrea Dovizioso confirms the company’s primary interest in racing, which is an active and strategic part of Ducati’s DNA and heritage,” president Gabriele Del Torchio said in a statement. “It is with great pleasure that I welcome Andrea, as we marshal our best efforts in confronting the MotoGP World Championship.” As preparations begin for this weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix, Ducati also revealed Hayden will remain off-track after the American injured his right hand during a qualifying crash at Indianapolis last weekend. Hayden will not be replaced for the race, meaning Ducati’s only representative will be Rossi.
FORMULA 1
Brawn decries randomness
The novelty of a vast number of different race winners will wear off and Formula One must avoid being too random to keep fans glued to the action, Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn said on Wednesday. “For F1, we must make sure that the random factor is not too strong,” Brawn said on the Autosport Web site. Seven different drivers won the first seven races of this year’s championship, the first time that had occurred. Brawn hopes the second half of the season will be less unpredictable. “I think there have been some ... elements of this year that have been exciting, but I actually think that [the excitement] will fade after a while if it stays too random,” Brawn said. “What we cannot have in motorsport is a randomness where you don’t know who is going to win, and that you could work really hard to improve the car, but your car doesn’t suit the conditions and you are not competitive. That is not where we want to be.”
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