RUGBY UNION
Piri Weepu suffers stroke
All Blacks scrum-half Piri Weepu has suffered a minor stroke and will be sidelined for at least four weeks, medical staff said yesterday. “This was a minor stroke and he is expected to make a full recovery,” said Stephen Kara, the doctor for Weepu’s Auckland Blues Super 15 side. “However, any stroke is serious for anyone at any age and we must now take the time to fully understand the cause of it and the implications for Piri.” The 30-year-old veteran of 71 Tests had a scan on Monday after complaining of migraine-like symptoms dating back nearly four weeks. Medical staff considered the stroke to be a non-rugby-related condition and Weepu is undergoing testing to determine the cause. Weepu told Fairfax Media earlier this week that the headaches were more annoying than debilitating. “I’ve basically been able to play through them,” he said. “During the week sometimes I’d have bad ones and I’ve just got to lie down and give myself a bit of time off, or just sit down and take a breath, and try to ease up a bit. I’m fine after that.”
CRICKET
Sehwag helps MCC to win
Virender Sehwag’s typically rapid century ensured county champions Durham suffered a six-wicket defeat in their English season curtain-raiser against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The former India opener made 109 off 97 balls, including a six and 18 fours, as MCC chased down a victory target of 224 in 51 overs. England exile Samit Patel contributed a handy 48 as MCC eased to victory. MCC resumed on Wednesday’s fourth and final day on 48 for two, with Sehwag nine not out. Daniel Bell-Drummond helped Sehwag take the score to 106 before the Kent batsman was caught and bowled by Scott Borthwick (two for 77). However, the England leg-spinner was one of several bowlers who suffered at Sehwag’s hands before the right-hander was caught off Jamie Harrison (two for 69).
CRICKET
Chris Cairns under probe
Former New Zealand Test cricketer Chris Cairns has confirmed he is under investigation by the London Metropolitan Police and the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, although he says he does not know why. Cairns told reporters yesterday: “I have had contact from the [Metropolitan] police and the ICC and I will be engaging with them further in the coming days and weeks. I still don’t have any detail about the basis for or nature of their inquiry.” Cairns said he was pleased that after persistent rumors of his alleged involvement in match fixing “the authorities are finally engaging with me so that this matter can be resolved once and for all and I can get on with my life. As I have said countless times, I have nothing to hide.”
BASEBALL
LA Dodgers’ ace scratched
Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw has been scratched from his next start due to a back injury, the team announced on Wednesday. The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, and two-time winner overall, underwent an MRI scan that revealed an inflamed back muscle. Kershaw pitched 6-2/3 innings of a season-opening win in Australia last week without any setbacks, but will reluctantly sit out for the Dodgers’ opener on home soil against San Diego on Sunday. “I really wanted to pitch,” Kershaw told reporters. “I just had to admit I don’t feel right. I don’t know how I did it. It’s probably nothing I’m too worried about.”
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