BASKETBALL
Warriors sign Bogut
The Golden State Warriors said on Friday they had signed Australian center Andrew Bogut to a multi-year contract extension, reported to be worth US$36 million. USA Today reported that the three-year deal is worth US$36 million, with incentives that could raise its value to US$42 million. “OFFICIAL: The Warriors have signed center Andrew Bogut to a multi-year contract extension,” the NBA club said on Twitter. The Golden State Warriors have reached an agreement with center Andrew Bogut on a three-year, US$36 million extension, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA Today. That would require the oft-injured big man to play at least 65 games in each of the three seasons covered and reach certain performance levels, the newspaper said. Bogut, the top overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, has struggled to stay healthy. He missed a total of 107 games over the past two seasons as he battled injuries to his elbow, wrist and ankle. Bogut enters the 2013-2014 season owning career averages of 12.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.58 blocks and 32.1 minutes over eight seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks and Warriors.
CYCLING
Evans to ride Down Under
Ex-Tour de France champion Cadel Evans will ride his home tour for the first time in three years in January as he begins preparations for his main goal next season: the Giro d’Italia. Evans has ridden the season-opening Tour Down Under eight times, winning king of the mountains titles in 2002 and 2006 and the best young rider jersey in 1999. He last competed in the Australian leg of the ProTour in 2010, the year before his breakthrough victory in the Tour de France. Evans is not riding next year’s Tour de France, leaving room for the Australian race on his schedule.
TENNIS
Cilic doping ban reduced
Former world No. 9 Marin Cilic is free to play on the tennis circuit again after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cut his ban for doping by more than half on Friday. “The player’s ban will … end at midnight on 25 October 2013,” the CAS said on its Web site. The Croatian was originally banned for nine months by the International Tennis Federation last month for taking the banned stimulant nikethamide. The 25-year-old, who said he had inadvertently taken the substance in glucose tablets, appealed to the CAS, who ruled on Friday that the punishment had been too severe. Cilic, who spent 11 weeks in the world’s top 10 in 2010, tested positive for the substance at the BMW Open in Munich in April. He has dropped to 47th.
FORMULA ONE
Williams fined for wheel nut
Formula One team Williams have been fined 60,000 euros (US$83,000) for the second race in a row after a wheel nut came off Pastor Maldonado’s car during practice at the Indian Grand Prix, the FIA said yesterday. Maldonado was forced to pull off the circuit after his right-front wheel shed a nut during the second free practice at the Buddh International Circuit on Friday. Williams were punished in Suzuka, Japan for a similar offense two weeks ago. “The stewards decide that a fine of 60,000 euros is the most appropriate penalty in this case taking into account that this was the second offense, but on this occasion the wheel was retained,” unlike in Suzuka, the FIA said. “Whilst the stewards accept that improvements to the wheel retaining system had been implemented, the team need to ensure that both the wheel and its fastener are fully retained on the car,” it said.
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