BASEBALL
Indians sign Swisher
Free agent outfielder Nick Swisher has agreed to a four-year, US$56 million contract with the Cleveland Indians, Major League Baseball’s Web site said on Sunday. The deal, which is pending a physical, makes the 32-year-old Swisher the highest paid free agent ever signed by the Indians, who are trying to recover from a 94-loss season. Swisher, who spent the past four seasons with the New York Yankees, hit .272 with 93 runs batted in and 24 home runs in 148 games last season. “Hey Cleveland! Are you ready? Because I’m coming home!” Swisher, an Ohio native, wrote on his Twitter account. Cleveland had the second-worst record in the American League last season at 68-94 and hired former Red Sox skipper Terry Francona to manage the club and signed slugger Mark Reynolds to play first base earlier this postseason.
CYCLING
Paper sues Armstrong
The Sunday Times is suing disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong for about £1 million (US$1.62 million) over his libel action against the British newspaper in 2004. Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in October, received £300,000 from the Sunday Times as payment toward his legal fees after the paper raised questions about the American’s success following his recovery from testicular cancer. “It is clear that the proceedings were baseless and fraudulent. Your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false,” read a letter to Armstrong’s lawyers in the Sunday Times. The paper is demanding the return of the £300,000 payment plus interest, as well as costs accrued in defending the case, which was settled in 2006. A report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in October said Armstrong had been involved in the “most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program the sport has ever seen.”
SOCCER
Marseille riding high
Olympique de Marseille remained in a three-way tie for the lead of Ligue 1 on Sunday after a 1-0 win over AS Saint-Etienne, extending the visitors’ miserable record at Stade Velodrome where they have not won since 1979. The only goal of the game came in first-half stoppage time when Ghana striker Andre Ayew headed in a pinpoint, right-wing cross from Rod Fanni for his fifth league goal of the season. Third-placed Marseille moved onto 38 points — the same as Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais — but it is the side from the capital who lead the way into the two-week winter break on goal difference. In Sunday’s other Ligue 1 games, Toulouse beat Sochaux-Montbeliard 2-0 and Valenciennes downed Evian Thonon Gaillard 2-1.
SOCCER
Casillas out to prove point
Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas vowed on Sunday to prove Jose Mourinho was wrong to drop him from the Real Madrid starting line-up for the first time in 10 years. Casillas was benched for Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Malaga with understudy Antonio Adan stepping into the breach. “I’m not used to being a backup, but above all I am a team player. The thing to do is to keep training and try to regain my place,” Casillas told La Sexta television. “Mourinho didn’t say anything during the week, but we abide by the decision of the coach. I am feeling good, but the one who decides is the coach and I have to keep training to regain his confidence. We have a healthy competition for all the places.”
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