SOCCER
Six arrested for match-fixing
Six men have been charged in a multimillion dollar match-fixing probe into Australian state soccer, including a Malaysian and a Briton, reports said yesterday. The charges relate to the alleged manipulation of results mainly for overseas betting at an obscure second-tier Melbourne side called Southern Stars. The prime accused was identified by local media as Gerry Gsubramaniam, 45, a Malaysian. Police said he faces 10 charges linked to corrupting the outcome of a betting event. Gsubramaniam appeared before a court hearing late on Sunday where detective Scott Poynder described him as the contact point for players. Goalkeeper Joe Wooley, 23 and reportedly a British national, and the team coach were among five men charged on eight counts linked to corrupting the outcome of a betting event. They were all bailed to appear before magistrates on Friday.
SAILING
Kiwis grab back momentum
Emirates Team New Zealand grabbed back the momentum in the 34th America’s Cup on Sunday, inching closer to prying the prized yachting trophy from the hands of Oracle Team USA. The pivotal victory in the 10th race of the series came after the event’s fiercest on-water duel, with the rivals swapping leads repeatedly in a race that was not decided until the Kiwis rounded the final gate. New Zealand kept control over the rest of the battle on San Francisco Bay, crossing the finish 17 seconds ahead of Oracle. New Zealand have notched seven victories and need just two more to wrest the Cup from holders Oracle. They could seize the Cup as early as today, when the next two races are scheduled.
BASKETBALL
Serbia get top seeding
Serbia are heading to the quarter-finals of the European basketball championship as a top seed after finishing top of their second-round group on Sunday. They were joined into the final eight by Lithuania, France and Ukraine. Serbia beat France 77-65 to finish Group E with a 4-1 record. They were paced by 19 points, four rebounds and four assists by Nenad Krstic, while Bogdan Bogdanovic had 14 points and five rebounds. France dropped to 3-2 and finished third, despite Nicolas Batum, Nando de Colo, Alexis Ajinca and Boris Diaw all scoring 12 points. Tony Parker had eight points.
GOLF
Storm postpones final round
A heavy rainstorm on Sunday postponed the completion of the final round of the US$8 million BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Illinois, the penultimate event of the PGA Tour playoffs. Only six players finished their final rounds at Conway Farms, where play was delayed twice before officials halted the round until yesterday morning. There were still 22 players in the field of 70 yet to tee off, including leader Jim Furyk of the US, who matched the Pga Tour record lowest round with a 59 on Friday and followed with a 69 on Saturday to stand on 13-under.
RUGBY UNION
Yellow card an error: IRB
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has found fault with French referee Romaine Poite’s decision to award the first of two yellow cards to Springboks hooker Bismarck du Plessis in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand. In a statement yesterday, the IRB said the yellow card awarded to Du Plessis for a tackle on New Zealand flyhalf Dan Carter in the 17th minute of the match was “incorrect.” Du Plessis received a second yellow card for foul play in the 42nd minute, which meant he was sent off.
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