BASEBALL
Canseco shoots self in hand
Former Major League Baseball slugger Jose Canseco — a World Series winner and admitted steroid user — accidentally shot himself in the hand while cleaning a gun on Tuesday, US media reported. The Las Vegas Review-Journal said police, called to Canseco’s Las Vegas home on Tuesday, had confirmed the shooting was accidental. TMZ Sports, citing Canseco’s fiancee Leila Knight, reported that a bullet severely damaged the middle finger of Canseco’s left hand. In a 17-year Major League career, Canseco starred for the Oakland Athletics in the 1980s, helping them to the 1989 World Series title. Canseco last played in the majors in 2001 and after retiring published an autobiography, Juiced, in which he helped expose widespread steroid use in baseball. He testified before the US Congress in 2005 about performance-enhancing drug use in the game.
SOCCER
Maradona accuses girlfriend
Former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona on Tuesday filed a theft complaint against his girlfriend, Rocio Oliva, after a video was released that allegedly shows him hitting her. “I spoke to Diego and he filed the complaint,” Oliva told Argentine television. Oliva, 22, has a turbulent relationship with 53-year-old Maradona. He lives in Dubai and has a sports promotion contract. Argentine television channels have released a short video supposedly shot by Oliva in a room in Maradona’s home. In the blurry footage, Oliva can be heard saying: “Stop, stop” as if she is trying to stop an attack. Maradona has said he had knocked the phone from her hands, but denies hitting Oliva, a female soccer player. Oliva said she was not responsible for the video being released and instead blamed an unnamed “nephew” of Maradona. Maradona in March accused Oliva in Dubai of stealing jewelry and other valuable items. The couple are a staple of Argentina’s tabloid and celebrity press.
SOCCER
Prince offers Al Hilal bonus
A Saudi prince has offered Al Hilal players and team officials a bonus of US$26,000 each if they can beat Australian club Western Sydney Wanderers and win the Asian Champions League this weekend. The 13-time Saudi and twice Asian champions lost the first leg 1-0 in Sydney last weekend, but will be in for a bumper payday if they can overturn the deficit at the King Fahd Stadium on Saturday. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is worth US$21.5 billion according to Forbes, made the offer of 100,000 riyals (US$26,650) a man in a tweet just before last Saturday’s first leg kicked off. The Saudi royal also said he would be paying for free entry for all fans of the club for Saturday’s second leg in Riyadh, where a crowd in excess of 65,000 is expected. Fourteen Wanderers fans have travelled from Australia for the match. According to the prince’s Web site (www.alwaleed.com.sa), the Al Hilal players received bonuses of 20,000 riyals for reaching the ACL quarter-finals and another of 40,000 riyals for winning the first leg of their ACL semi-final against Al Ain 3-0.
SOCCER
Sassuolo rally for win
US Sassuolo came back from a goal down to beat Empoli 3-1 at home in Serie A on Tuesday in their second consecutive win after failing to record a victory in their opening seven matches. Daniele Croce put Empoli ahead in the 18th minute, but Sassuolo struck back with second-half goals from Simone Missiroli, Sergio Floccari and Domenico Berardi.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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