ICE HOCKEY
Islanders down Hurricanes
Brock Nelson had two goals and two assists for the New York Islanders, and Johnny Boychuk added a goal and two assists in his team debut as the visitors won 5-3 at the Carolina Hurricanes in their season opener on Friday. Key free-agent acquisition Mikhail Grabovski had a goal, Travis Hamonic also scored and John Tavares had three assists in his return after injuring his knee during the Olympics. Boychuk — picked up from Boston last week for draft picks — and Nelson scored 1 minute, 48 seconds apart in the first period. Nelson later added a deflected goal off a Boychuk shot in the second to put New York up 3-0 and in control of this match of the Metropolitan Division’s two worst teams in the past season. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves in his Islanders debut. Eric Staal, Nathan Gerbe and Chris Terry scored third-period goals for Carolina. Cam Ward made 21 saves. The Hurricanes lost Bill Peters’ NHL head coaching debut.
GOLF
Laird maintains lead
Scotland’s Martin Laird fired a second straight five-under-par 67 on Friday to grab a one-shot lead after two rounds of the USPGA Tour’s US$6 million Frys.com Open. Laird, a three-time winner on the US tour, had a 10-under total of 134 and a one-stroke lead over first-round co-leader Bae Sang-moon of South Korea and the US’ Zach Blair. Bae followed his first-round 66 with a 69, while Blair carded a 66 for 135. Scott Langley vaulted up the leaderboard with a six-under 66 and was tied for fourth on 136 with Sweden’s David Lingmerth (68) and fellow American Mark Hubbard (65). Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama carded a 67 and was alone in seventh. Monday qualifier Jarrod Lyle of Australia, who is playing for the first time on tour since twice being treated for leukemia, made the cut by two strokes after shooting a two-under 70.
SOCCER
Ebola panics Morocco
The Moroccan government on Friday called for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations to be postponed due to the deadly Ebola epidemic. The biennial competition is scheduled to be held in the North African country from Jan. 17 to Feb. 8. The Moroccan Ministry of Health made the plea in the wake of their decision “to avoid events which involve those countries affected by the Ebola virus,” the MAP news agency quoted a government statement as saying. The demand to delay the event has been lodged with the Africa Cup of Nations’ organizers, the Confederation of African Football. More than 4,000 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in west Africa at the start of the year, according to the latest figures released by the WHO.
SOCCER
Egypt get crucial victory
An unstoppable Mohamed El-Nenny shot set up Egypt for a crucial 2-0 away win over Botswana on Friday in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. The midfielder from Swiss club Basel unleashed a 35m drive on 55 minutes that flew high into the corner of the net over goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe. Chelsea striker Mohamed Salah added a second six minutes later with a low curling shot from just outside the penalty area. It was a must-win Group G clash for the Pharaohs after losses away to Senegal and at home to Tunisia last month. Egypt are to host Botswana in Cairo on Wednesday and another victory would give them hope of a top-two finish ahead of return fixtures next month against Senegal and Tunisia.
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