HORSE RACING
Trainer gets eight-year ban
Godolphin trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni was disqualified for eight years by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) on Thursday for doping racehorses in a scandal that has caused serious embarrassment to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Eleven horses trained by al-Zarooni in Newmarket, England for owner Sheikh Mohammed tested positive for anabolic steroids, including ethylestrenol and stanozolol. Al-Zarooni, who won the Dubai World Cup — the world’s richest horse race — for Godolphin last year with Monterosso, also admitted administering prohibited substances to four other horses under his care. “We believe that the eight-year disqualification issued to Mahmood al-Zarooni by the disciplinary panel, together with the six month racing restriction placed on the horses in question by the BHA, will serve to reassure the public, and the sport’s participants, that use of performance-enhancing substances in British Racing will not be tolerated and that the sport has in place a robust and effective anti-doping and medication control programme,” BHA chief executive Paul Bittar said in a statement. Earlier, the BHA said the 15 horses Emirati al-Zarooni admitted doping have been banned from racing for six months.
GOLF
Ozaki shoots less than age
Japan’s 66-year-old Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki has shot a nine-under-par 62 to put another feather in his cap as he became the first to finish a round with strokes less than his age on the regular domestic tour. “Shooting my age is not something I try to do, although I want to be able to do something like shoot a 66,” Ozaki said after taking the first-round lead at 62 in the Tsuruya Open on Thursday in Kawanishi, Japan. “But if you can’t shoot 6-under or 7-under par when you play good golf, you don’t belong on the tour,” he told reporters, according to Kyodo News, completing the round with one eagle, nine birdies and two bogeys.
AUSTRALIAN RULES
Pair arrested after prank
Two Australian Rules football players were arrested by armed police after a prank aimed at a teammate went awry. Josh Caddy and Billie Smedts, who play for Geelong, were reported to police after they were seen attempting to break into a house while wearing balaclavas. The pair had planned the break-in as a prank against fellow Geelong player Jackson Thurlow, but they were at the wrong address. Caddy and Smedts were found in their car soon after the report and were arrested by police with guns drawn. The Geelong Advertiser reported the players were cautioned by police and no further action will be taken. Caddy was quoted as saying, “me and Billie are both disappointed that we scared people in the community.”
FIELD HOCKEY
Player dies after snake bite
A player who was bitten by a venomous king brown snake in Australia’s tropical north and proceeded to go for a 2km training run has died. Fairfax Newspapers reported yesterday that 26-year-old Karl Berry was cleaning up at Marrara Hockey Centre in Darwin on Tuesday when he picked up a snake, thinking it was a non-venomous python, and threw it into bushes. Berry was bitten on the hand, but did not realize the bite was poisonous and embarked on a run. He later collapsed and Craig Garraway, St John’s Ambulance operations manager, was quoted as saying Berry was conscious when paramedics arrived, but took up to 15 minutes to mention he had been bitten by a snake. He died on Wednesday.
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