OLYMPICS
Tirade secured Games: Coe
A blistering tirade by Cherie Blair, the wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, against then-French president Jacques Chirac played a key role in winning the Olympics for London, organizer Sebastian Coe said. In extracts from Coe’s book published in the Times yesterday, the former London Organizing Committee chairman revealed that Mrs Blair rounded on Chirac at a crucial Olympic reception over comments he made about Britain’s cuisine. The leader’s wife went at Chirac “like a banshee” at the 2005 event in Singapore, causing the embarrassed French leader to leave the function before he had chance to lobby potential voters on behalf of the Paris 2012 bid, Coe said. “I spotted Cherie heading like a heat-seeking missile towards the French contingent,” he recalled. “Above the hubbub her voice rang loud and clear. ‘I gather you’ve been saying rude things about our food,’ she said, at a volume that would have done justice to a packed courtroom. Her husband, who could hear as well as I could, had assiduously turned away,” the former Olympic champion added. Three days earlier, Chirac was heard telling Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: “You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that,” at a G8 summit in Scotland. “After Finland, it’s [Britain] the country with the worst food,” he added. Paris arrived in Singapore as favorites to secure the 2012 Games, but was edged out by London in the final eliminator by 54 votes to 50.
GOLF
Frost takes AT&T title
David Frost won the AT&T Championship on Sunday, beating Bernhard Langer with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff after overcoming a six-stroke deficit in the final round. Frost and Langer each shot six-under 66 to finish at eight-under 208 on TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course. Second-round leader Mark Calcavecchia had a 74 to finish two strokes back. He bogeyed four of the first 11 holes. The 53-year-old Frost also teamed with Michael Allen to win the Legends of Golf in April and has three career Champions Tour victories. The South African won 10 times on the PGA Tour. It was the final full-field end of the season tournament. The top 30 on the money list qualified for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona.
OLYMPICS
Ganguly to retire
India’s record-breaking former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly is finally calling time on his career after deciding not to play in next year’s Twenty20 Indian Premier League competition. The 40-year-old Ganguly, who quit international cricket four years ago, has been playing in the IPL tournament since its inception — most recently captaining the Pune Warriors. However, he told yesterday’s Times of India newspaper that his body could no longer take the strain, even though he was contracted to play in the IPL next spring. “I had a wonderful time playing in the IPL for five seasons. It gave me a chance to keep playing top-class cricket even after quitting international cricket. But I can’t go on forever, and I have requested the franchise owners not to consider me for IPL 6. Twenty20 is a very demanding format. I will be almost 41 by the time IPL 6 ends. It would have been very tough for the body,” he told the paper. The left-handed Ganguly is the most successful captain in the history of the India national side, overseeing 21 wins in 49 Tests. He scored 7,212 runs in 113 Tests and 11,363 runs in 311 one-day internationals in a career spanning more than a decade.
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