GOLF
Croc ends ball hunt
A 4m-long crocodile has killed a South African golfer who went for a late night swim at a dam called Lake Panic in Kruger National Park in South Africa, a park official said yesterday. Deep sea diver Jacques van der Sandt, 29, was dragged under the water by the crocodile at about 10pm on Wednesday and was later found in the jaws of the reptile, which was killed to recover the man’s body. “It had him in his mouth and was swimming in the water with him,” Danie Pienaar, acting head of Kruger National Park, told 702 Talk Radio. “It was in the public area ... we also don’t know if there is anything wrong with the crocodile,” he added, explaining the reason for shooting the animal. Local press reported Van der Sandt had been drinking in the clubhouse before he went looking for golf balls, jumping into the lake where there is a resident crocodile.
SOCCER
City to play in Australia
English Premier League champions Manchester City are to join European champions Real Madrid at next year’s International Champions Cup in Melbourne, organizers said yesterday. Manchester City is the second team announced for the three-team tournament to take place at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground from July 18 to July 24. The third team for the series has yet to be confirmed, but reports have linked Italian Serie A side Inter. Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan has invested more than £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) since acquiring Manchester City in 2008. Since Mansour’s arrival, City have won two Premier League titles, in 2011-2012 and last season, as well as the 2010-2011 FA Cup and the League Cup earlier this year. Manchester City also have a stake in Australia’s A-League after the club’s Abu Dhabi-based owners purchased and re-branded Melbourne Heart as Melbourne City early this year.
YACHTING
Team links with Red Bull
British sailor Ben Ainslie on Thursday announced a collaboration between his America’s Cup racing team and Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), a division of the Red Bull Formula One Group. Ainslie, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, is to lead Ben Ainslie Racing at the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017, when he hopes to bring the prestigious prize to Britain for the first time. To that end, he has enlisted the help of RBAT, which is based in the British town of Milton Keynes and specializes in “advanced simulation and mathematical modeling.” RBAT’s expertise helped Red Bull Racing to win four successive F1 drivers’ titles and four constructors’ championships from 2010 to last year.
CRICKET
Al Hasan ban lifted
Bangladesh lifted a ban on all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan playing in overseas events, paving the way for him to compete in Australia’s Big Bash League in two weeks. Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon made the announcement on Thursday in Dhaka, after consent from all board directors. “Shakib’s embargo to play overseas tournaments is lifted from this moment,” Hassan said. “[The board of directors] are satisfied about his behavior. He was not punished for his performance. It was all about his attitude.” In July, Shakib was suspended for six months and told he would not receive permission to play in overseas competitions until Dec. 31 next year. He was punished for a “severe attitude problem” following altercations with the Bangladesh coach and a fan during a one-dayer against India in Mirpur.
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