BASKETBALL
James equals Malone record
LeBron James, who won his fourth NBA Most Valuable Player Award in five seasons this year, was the only unanimous choice on the All-NBA First Team all-star squad announced by the league on Thursday. The Miami Heat superstar was joined on the lineup chosen by a media panel by NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City, Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers, Tim Duncan of Antonio and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. It was the 11th first-team nod for Bryant, matching the record set by Utah Jazz Hall of Fame forward Karl Malone. The All-NBA Second Team included two non-US players, San Antonio guard Tony Parker of France and Spanish center Marc Gasol of Memphis, plus Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook and forwards Blake Griffin of the Clippers and Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks.
RUGBY UNION
Williams hangs up jersey
New Zealand’s second-highest capped lock Ali Williams announced his retirement from international rugby union yesterday. The 32-year-old has played 77 Tests for world champions the All Blacks in his 10-year international career. Ian Jones played 79 Tests for the national side. “Guys, I just want to let you know first that I’m retiring from international rugby. I’m hanging up the black jersey,” the Auckland Blues captain wrote on his Twitter feed. “It’s been an amazing 10 years, but it’s time to call it quits. But I’m not hanging up the boots yet.” Williams made his All Blacks debut in 2002 against England and was a near automatic choice for most of his career. He suffered a serious Achilles injury in 2009 and needed three operations, before returning to win the World Cup on home soil in 2011, though he was mainly used off the bench.
CRICKET
Rauf pulled from Trophy
Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf has been withdrawn from next month’s Champions Trophy by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday because Indian police are investigating his performances during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). “In the wake of reports ... we feel that is in Asad’s best interests, as well as those of the sport and the event itself, that he is withdrawn from participating in the ICC Champions Trophy,” the ICC said in a statement. The Champions Trophy runs from June 6 to June 23 in England and Wales. Rauf had been scheduled to officiate in a warmup match between Australia and the West Indies on June 1 in Cardiff. He was also due to take charge of two group matches in the tournament. Three players from IPL franchise the Rajasthan Royals were suspended last week after allegations of spot-fixing. Bookmakers and their associates have been arrested across India in the past week.
SOCCER
Wolfsburg stun Lyon in final
German club VfL Wolfsburg ended Olympique Lyonnais’ two-year reign as women’s UEFA Champions League holders with a shock 1-0 win over the French side in Thursday’s final at Stamford Bridge in London. Lyon, who have appeared in the last four Champions League finals, had won 35 of their 36 matches in all competitions this season, securing a seventh consecutive French league title in the process, but the German champions sprang a major surprise thanks to Martina Muller’s second-half penalty. Muller drove her spot-kick past Sarah Bouhaddi in the 73rd minute after Laura Georges had handled in the area. Ralf Kellermann’s team held on through the nervous final minutes to secure their first continental crown.
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