ATHLETICS
S Korea seeks marathoners
South Korea’s athletics boss is open to naturalizing foreign athletes to lift the marathon standard in the country, local media reported yesterday. Hwang Young-cho won the marathon gold for the country at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, while Lee Bong-ju bagged silver four years later in Atlanta. However, in recent years South Korean athletes have failed to replicate that success, prompting the Korea Association of Athletic Federations (KAAF) to look for ways of reviving the past glory. “I’ve had extensive discussions with experts in the field on how to revive our marathon,” KAAF chairman Oh Dong-jin was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. “To help improve our national record, giving South Korean citizenship to foreign-born athletes is considered an option.” The time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 20 seconds set by Lee at the Tokyo Marathon in 2000 still stands as the country’s national record, something Oh was not pleased about. “In Kenya, I understand there are more than 3,000 marathoners who can clock about 2 hours, 10 minutes,” Oh said. “In South Korea, only Jeong Jin-hyeok is able to do about 2 hours, 9 minutes to 2 hours, 11 minutes, but others are well behind. We can’t compete internationally with that.”
SOCCER
Inter get extra-time win
Andrea Ranocchia scored in the last minute of extra-time to give Inter a 3-2 Italian Cup win over Bologna, whose fightback from two goals down proved in vain on Tuesday. Bologna had scored twice in the last 10 minutes of normal time to stun a sparse San Siro crowd in the quarter-final tie, after Fredy Guarin and Rodrigo Palacio had put Inter in control with long-range goals. Bologna suddenly came to life as Alessandro Diamanti pulled one back with a free-kick in the 80th minute and Manolo Gabbiandini equalized four minutes later, volleying in Marco Motta’s cross. Both teams could have won the game, with Javier Zanetti hitting the post for Inter and Bologna having several chances on the break, before Ranocchia headed in from a corner at the end of extra-time to earn Inter a semi-final against AS Roma or ACF Fiorentina.
SOCCER
Saint-Etienne in final
AS Saint-Etienne qualified for their first final in more than 30 years when they won their French League Cup semi-final against LOSC Lille Metropole on penalties after a 0-0 draw at home on Tuesday. Six-times French Cup winners Saint-Etienne, who already beat Paris Saint-Germain on penalties after a goalless draw in the quarter-finals, had not featured in a final since 1982. They are to face Stade Rennais or Montpellier Herault at Stade de France on April 20. St Etienne, who had the best chances throughout, were on the brink of being eliminated, but Lille’s midfielder Florent Balmont missed his penalty to keep them alive. They eventually won 7-6 after Idrissa Gueye’s attempt flew well above the crossbar.
SOCCER
Rogic to join Celtic
Young Australian playmaker Tomas Rogic is to leave the A-League to join Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic, his Central Coast Mariners team said yesterday. The 20-year-old midfielder, who recently made his international debut for Australia, had trials with the European club earlier this month at their mid-season training camp in Spain. “Central Coast Mariners FC wish to officially advise that terms have been agreed for the transfer of Tomas Rogic to Celtic FC,” the club said in a statement. Rogic had also been a target for English Premier League club Reading.
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