CRICKET
Holy match scheduled
The Church of England on Friday took up the Vatican’s challenge to settle scores on the cricket pitch nearly 500 years after the two churches split. In October, the Vatican formed the St Peter’s Cricket Club, a league composed of teams of priests and seminarians from Catholic colleges and seminaries in Rome. The best players are to play in the “Vatican XI,” against the Church of England, which will form its own team of Anglican priests and seminarians to play in London at Lord’s. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby accepted through his representative to the Vatican, Archbishop David Moxon. Asked if a combination of sports diplomacy could help improve relations between the two churches, Moxon said: “It will introduce a conversation piece all over the world whenever Catholics and Anglicans get together.”
ICE HOCKEY
Las Vegas team mooted
According to TSN hockey broadcaster Bob McKenzie, the National Hockey League is considering establishing a franchise in Las Vegas, which would make it the first major professional sports league in Sin City. The viability of a team in Vegas has been hotly debated, with the gambling stigma in sports and the competition from other entertainment venues as the primary detracting arguments. Supporters say a team would have no problem filling seats with the almost 40 million tourists who visit Vegas each year. However, the sustainability of a fan base that is not demographically ideal for a new team might be the biggest problem. According to the Las Vegas Sun, 57 percent of its recent growth is people moving from other states — people who already have allegiances to their hometown teams.
SOCCER
Match-fixers banned
Five players and three team officials from a Malaysian lower league soccer club have been handed life bans after being found guilty of match-fixing, local media reported. The eight who represented Kuala Lumpur were also fined 20,000 ringgit (US$6,100) by the Football Association of Malaysia, which will hold a disciplinary hearing on Friday for seven more players from the club, the Malaysia Star reported. The paper said coach Stanislav Lieskovsky, assistant manager Rosli Omar and kitman Shaari Jani were the officials disciplined with the Slovak manager having already returned home to Europe in July. The three-times Malaysia Cup winners have suffered back-to-back relegations from the top-flight and will compete in the third tier next year.
SOCCER
US$10bn expected from Cup
Foreign and Brazilian tourists are expected to spend US$10.4 billion during next year’s World Cup, more than the public funds invested for staging the event, the Brazilian tourism board said on Friday. “These are important resources which fuel economic sectors of all Brazilian regions, from aviation to the informal economy,” said Flavio Dino, president of state tourism board Embratur, in a statement. He said that the Confederations Cup injected US$311 million into the Brazilian economy. Dino said that even if revenues do not cover investments for events, it was important to note that one out of three reals invested by the federal government for the World Cup is disbursed to upgrade urban mobility projects in major cities. “Some see major events as gobbling up resources that could be allocated to public services. I prefer to see them as a big gamble on a new development project which obviously encompasses an urgent modernization of public services,” he 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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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