ICE HOCKEY
Penguins’ Letang had stroke
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will miss at least six weeks after suffering a stroke last week, the NHL team announced on Friday. Letang, 26, began feeling dizzy last week and tests later confirmed the stroke. He has had a small hole in the wall of his heart since birth, but specialists say the condition is not career-threatening and can be treated with blood thinners. His defect, which occurs in all individuals before birth but usually seals shut, could have led to his stroke, the Penguins said in a news release. Letang will be re-evaluated after six weeks of treatment by University of Pittsburgh Medical Center doctors. Letang, who was selected 62nd overall by the Penguins in the 2005 entry draft, has been cleared to go on vacation with his family during the NHL’s Olympic break. Letang, a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman last season, has 10 goals and 18 points in 34 games this season.
BASKETBALL
Davis to replace Bryant
New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis was named on Friday by NBA commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant in next week’s 63rd NBA All-Star Game. Davis, a member of the US gold medal team at the 2012 London Olympics, is to make his first appearance at the annual showdown of elite talent in his team’s home arena when the Eastern and Western Conference squads meet next Sunday. Davis, 20, is averaging 20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and an NBA-best 3.3 blocked shots over 40 games for the Pelicans. Despite playing only six games this season because of a fractured left knee, Bryant was voted into a starting spot in the All-Star Game by NBA fans. Because Bryant is not yet fit enough to play, new commissioner Silver — who replaced David Stern last Saturday — had to name a new member of the Western Conference roster.
GOLF
Eastwood makes the day
Clint Eastwood added another starring role at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am — life saver. Eastwood attended a volunteer party on the eve of the PGA Tour event when he noticed tournament director Steve John choking on a piece of cheese. The 83-year-old actor quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver on Wednesday night at the Monterey Conference Center. John said on Friday that the Hollywood actor saved his life. He said Eastwood immediately saw that he was in trouble and lifted the 92kg tournament director three times about 30cm off the ground. Eastwood told the Carmel Pine Cone it was his first time using the Heimlich maneuver. Eastwood is the chairman of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which runs the popular PGA Tour event.
RUGBY SEVENS
N Zealand win at home
New Zealand beat South Africa 21-0 yesterday in the final of the Wellington Sevens to win their home leg of the International Rugby Board World Series for the seventh time, the first since 2012. Sherwin Stowers scored two tries and Tim Mikkelson one as New Zealand overwhelmed South Africa in their third-straight final meeting on the world circuit. South Africa had won both of their previous meetings, at Las Vegas and in their home tournament at Port Elizabeth, but New Zealand proved too strong yesterday in front of 34,000 home fans. New Zealand lead South Africa by two points in the standings, while Fiji, who beat England 14-7 in the playoff for third and fourth, are in third place.
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