RUGBY UNION
Mitchell gets one-match ban
Melbourne Rebels winger Lachlan Mitchell has been suspended for one Super Rugby match after being found guilty of a lifting tackle on British and Irish Lions winger Simon Zebo in their tour match on Tuesday. Judicial officer Nigel Hampton yesterday said Mitchell was guilty of lifting and dropping Zebo onto his upper body in the 52nd minute of the Lions’ 35-0 win at Melbourne. Zebo appeared to leap as Mitchell attempted a tackle and Hampton said “the incident was clearly at the lowest level for this offense.” Hampton gave Mitchell two reductions in penalty for his previous good on-field record and for the nature of the incident. Mitchell can return after the Rebels’ next Super Rugby match on July 12.
SWIMMING
Franklin books Spain ticket
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin cruised to victory in the 100m freestyle at the US national trials in Indiana on Tuesday, booking her spot at the upcoming FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Franklin was the star attraction on the opening night of the event, which serves as the US trials for the championships, to be held from July 19 to Aug. 4. The 18-year-old set a personal best and championship record time of 53.43 seconds to win her race. Shannon Vreeland finished second in 53.83, followed by Simone Manuel and Megan Romano, who all booked their ticket to Spain. On the men’s side, Nathan Adrian, who won the 100m freestyle gold in London, won his race in 48.10. Other national champions crowned on the night included Cammile Adams and Tom Luchsinger in the 200m butterfly, Katie Ledecky in the women’s 800m freestyle and Connor Jaeger in the men’s 1,500m.
GOLF
‘Toledo Strongman’ dies
American Frank Stranahan, a six-time PGA Tour winner who was also a world-ranked weightlifter, has died at the age of 90, the PGA Tour announced on Tuesday. Stranahan, who enjoyed a stellar amateur career before turning professional in 1954, died on Sunday in the Hospice of Palm Beach County, Florida. “Frank’s achievements are no doubt underappreciated today, including the fact that he was a remarkable all-around athlete. Frank was a noted powerlifter during this period and later, became an accomplished long-distance runner,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement. Ohio-born Stranahan, who was nicknamed the “Toledo Strongman” during his golfing days, triumphed twice on the PGA Tour as an amateur and piled up more than 50 tournament victories in the amateur ranks. At the 1947 British Open, he fell one stroke shy of forcing a playoff for the title with Fred Daly after his approach shot from 110 yards on the final hole stopped three inches short of the cup.
SOCCER
Mignolet signs for Liverpool
Belgium international goalkeeper Simon Mignolet became English Premier League side Liverpool’s fourth signing of the close season on Tuesday when he moved from Sunderland for £9 million (US$13.9 million). The 25-year-old, who signed a long-term contract, joins manager Brendan Rodgers’ new recruits since a disappointing season saw them fail to qualify for Europe in finishing seventh and without a trophy. Mignolet, who played more than 100 games for Sunderland since a £2 million move from Belgian side Sint-Truidense VV in June 2010, could replace the club’s long-time No. 1 ’keeper, Spaniard Pepe Reina, who has been linked with a move to Barcelona.
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