OLYMPICS
Rio deadlines ‘challenging’
The head of an IOC inspection committee says the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics face some “challenging deadlines” and that a meeting with top government officials next week will be “crucial” in finalizing funding and venue planning for the games. With the Rio Games just two-and-a-half years away, Nawal El Moutawakel on Friday said that inspectors witnessed “improvements on the ground,” but that many projects face tight deadlines. The Rio Games — like Brazil’s World Cup in under three months — have been plagued by delays and concerns about the lack of coordination among Brazil’s three levels of government. El Moutawakel said the meeting on Thursday in Brasilia would include “top levels of government,” which might include Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
BASEBALL
Scioscia traded for Gretzky
The Los Angeles Angels traded the son of Angels manager Mike Scioscia to the Chicago Cubs on Friday in exchange for the son of National Hockey League legend Wayne Gretzky. The unique Major League Baseball swap sends 21-year-old Trevor Gretzky, who plays as a leftfielder and first baseman for a developmental-level team, to southern California, where his all-time NHL scoring leader father was a star for years after winning four Stanley Cup crowns with Edmonton. In exchange, developmental-level first baseman Matt Scioscia was sent to the Cubs by the club for which his father has managed since 2000. Mike Scioscia is the longest-tenured manager in the major leagues and guided the Angels to the 2002 World Series title and won two World Series crowns as a player with the Dodgers.
SOCCER
FIFA says can’t help workers
FIFA on Friday accepted “some responsibility” over the welfare of migrant workers constructing venues for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but acknowledged it was powerless to intervene. “We have some responsibility, but we cannot interfere in the rights of workers,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter told a press conference in Zurich. The energy-rich Gulf emirate has been under mounting pressure to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers building the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure for the 2022 tournament. Blatter was speaking after the issue was discussed at a FIFA executive committee meeting. “We are insisting that the responsibilities lie first with the state of Qatar and secondly with the companies employing the workers,” Blatter added.
PRO WRESTLING
Thief returns Hogan’s shoe
Police in Florida say a Michigan tourist has returned a wrestling shoe autographed by Hulk Hogan that she took from a store in Clearwater. Authorities say the woman called the professional wrestling icon’s Clearwater Beach store on Thursday, saying she wanted to return the shoe. A security camera captured images of the Sunday evening theft, but it was not until Tuesday that employees realized the shoe — valued at US$5,500 — was missing. Though she had returned to Michigan, she had left the shoe behind and arranged for three people she met while in Clearwater to return it to the store. No charges have been filed.
GOLF
Jack Fleck dies at 92
Jack Fleck, who upset Ben Hogan in a playoff to win the 1955 US Open golf title, died on Friday at age 92, the US PGA Tour announced. Fleck, an American who had been the oldest living US Open champion, won only three US PGA titles, all in playoffs.
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