ICE HOCKEY
Howe’s awareness improves
Gordie Howe’s family was hopeful the hockey great would be out of the hospital before the end of the night on Wednesday after being treated for dehydration. In a statement released by the Detroit Red Wings, Howe’s family said he was having difficulty eating solid foods and has been unable to walk for more than three weeks, but his mental awareness was improving enough that they were expecting him to be able to leave the hospital. The 86-year-old Howe suffered what his children called a serious stroke in late October. He has been staying at his daughter’s home in Lubbock, Texas. On Monday, Howe showed diminished consciousness to caregivers and physical therapy personnel and was taken to a hospital, but an MRI on Tuesday revealed he did not have another severe stroke.
TENNIS
Del Potro to return to Sydney
Defending champion Juan Martin del Potro has been granted a wild-card into next month’s Sydney International, organizers said yesterday. The 2009 US Open winner will start as the tournament favorite, despite a tough injury-blighted year. “Last year, I played some of my best tennis in Sydney and it is the perfect way to start the year,” the Argentine said. The tournament’s top seed will be Italian Fabio Fognini (world No. 20), while the second seed will go to Belgian David Goffin, ranked 22nd. Australians Nick Kyrgios and last year’s champion Bernard Tomic are also in the draw. The women’s side of the draw is headed by two-time Wimbledon champion and world No. 4 Petra Kvitova along with world No. 3 and French Open runner-up Simona Halep. The Sydney International takes place from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
No ‘War Machine’ probation
A judge in Las Vegas revoked probation for former mixed martial arts fighter “War Machine” on a prior felony conviction while he awaits trial on charges that could get him life without parole for allegedly trying to kill his porn actress ex-girlfriend and her friend. Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver’s lawyer, Brandon Sua, said on Tuesday that Koppenhaver does not dispute leaving Nevada without permission before his August arrest at a hotel in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley. Koppenhaver was sought at the time after Christy Mack reported he attacked her and a male friend at her Las Vegas house. Koppenhaver faces trial on Feb. 17 in that case. The judge on Tuesday invoked a one-to-four year sentence that she suspended in February 2012 after Koppenhaver’s guilty plea in a felony attempted battery case.
AUSTRALIA
Women ‘second-class’
The country’s former women’s field hockey coach says female athletes are treated as “second-class citizens” when it comes to sponsorships and media coverage. Ric Charlesworth, who coached the nation’s women’s team to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000, and is now an ambassador for the Australian Womensport & Recreation Association, yesterday said there needed to be a change in the public’s attitude toward women’s sport. Charlesworth, also a former men’s hockey player and Olympian, says “the issue is societal ... you only have to look at the boardrooms around to country to understand that occurs.” He says despite female athletes’ success internationally, women are “paid a token by their sports federations compared to their male counterparts, and they have to make enormous sacrifices to represent their clubs and country.”
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
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