CRICKET
Clarke ruled out of tour
Captain Michael Clarke was yesterday ruled out of Australia’s one-day tour of India this month with his long-standing back problem needing further treatment. The star batsman was picked in the initial 14-man squad last month, but the injury has failed to show as much progress as expected, with George Bailey assuming responsibilities as skipper. “Michael Clarke has a long-standing low-back injury that requires ongoing management,” team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said. “During the recent England ODI series his injury flared up again and has been slow to improve with his regular treatment regime. Michael will therefore not be available to play the upcoming India ODI series and will require a more extensive rehabilitation period before returning to competitive cricket.” Australia are due to play a seven-game series in India from Oct. 11, which will be coached by Steve Rixon while Darren Lehmann is rested. South Australia’s Callum Ferguson has been called up to replace Clarke.
SAILING
Aussie issues challenge
Australian wine magnate Bob Oatley’s Hamilton Island Yacht Club have been confirmed as the Challengers of Record for the 35th America’s Cup, organizers said yesterday. Oatley and his son Sandy issued the challenge to the Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) minutes after Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA beat Team New Zealand in a winner-takes-all race on San Francisco Bay last week. “We are delighted to have Hamilton Island Yacht Club and the Oatleys leading Australia back into the America’s Cup for the first time since 2000,” GGYC vice commodore and America’s Cup liaison Tom Ehman said in a statement. “Hamilton Island’s challenge was filed on the day Australia was celebrating the 30th anniversary of Australia II’s historic win in the 1983 Americas Cup off Newport, Rhode Island, which ended New York Yacht Club’s 132-year reign as the Cup’s defender.”
SOCCER
Rams appoint McClaren
Derby County hired former England manager Steve McClaren as their new head coach on Monday following the dismissal of Nigel Clough at the weekend. McClaren signed a three-year contract with the Championship club just 48 hours after Clough was surprisingly sacked in the aftermath of a 1-0 loss at local rivals Nottingham Forest which left the Rams seven points off the second tier play-off places. The 52-year-old’s appointment sees him return for a third spell at the club he served first as a player and then assistant to Jim Smith, who he helped to guide Derby to the Premier League in the 1995-1996 season. McClaren, who served as an assistant coach under Alex Ferguson at Manchester United from 1999 to 2001, had been working as an assistant at QPR under Harry Redknapp since the beginning of July following his sacking by Dutch club FC Twente in February.
SOCCER
Argentina call up Icardi
Lionel Messi’s injury has opened the international door to Inter forward Mauro Icardi, called up for the first time by Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella for their last two World Cup qualifiers. Argentina, who lead the South American group and have already qualified for the 2014 finals in Brazil, host Peru in Buenos Aires on Oct. 11 and visit Uruguay in Montevideo four days later. Messi suffered a hamstring injury playing for Barcelona at UD Almeria on Saturday and is expected to be out of action for up to three weeks.
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