SOCCER
FIFA mulls new laws
FIFA officials could decide this month to let teams use a fourth substitute in extra-time. The rule could take effect in July if agreed to at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Northern Ireland on Feb. 28. FIFA said IFAB could also decide on relaxing a “triple punishment” rule where a defender can make a challenge that results in a penalty kick, a red card and suspension. The panel also plan to begin talks on “the potential use of video replays to support match officials.”
CRICKET
Faulkner faces fitness race
Australia all-rounder James Faulkner faces a race to be fit for the Cricket World Cup after scans yesterday confirmed he suffered a moderate grade abdominal strain in Sunday’s tri-series final against England. Australia team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said Faulkner’s injury is “consistent with a typical fast-bowling side strain injury. He will receive intensive treatment for the next two weeks before we can determine when he can return to batting and bowling. He will travel with Australia’s ICC Cricket World Cup squad to Adelaide on Friday to continue his treatment with team medical staff.”
CRICKET
Stokes proves his worth
Ben Stokes, controversially omitted from the England World Cup squad, struck 15 sixes during an unbeaten 151 to help the England Lions defeat South Africa A on Monday in a one-day match. Batting at No. 5, Stokes also hit seven fours off 86 balls during 117 minutes at the crease, as the visitors triumphed by 89 runs. Stokes was dropped by England after four of seven one-day internationals in Sri Lanka two months ago due to a poor all-round game, particularly his bowling. However, former England stars Ian Botham, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood have criticized his exclusion from the squad for the World Cup.
TENNIS
Stakhovsky wins in Zagreb
Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine defeated Borna Coric of Croatia 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Zagreb Indoors tournament on Monday. Stakhovsky, who won the tournament in 2008 as lucky loser, won five games in a row in the first set, and saved a break point before closing the match. Coric held serve only four times and converted two out of 12 break points. “It’s not the first time that I failed to take the chances,” Coric said. Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania also advanced, beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2 in just 41 minutes. Lacko, a runner-up in Zagreb in 2012, won only 20 out of 71 points and had constant problems returning serve.
TENNIS
Janowicz through in France
Fifth-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland served 14 aces as he rallied to beat Dustin Brown of Germany 2-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 in the first round of the Open Sud de France on Monday. Janowicz, who dropped serve three times and saved five break points, next plays either Frenchman Benoit Paire or 169th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia. Seventh-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal had little trouble getting past wild-card entry Laurent Lokoli, beating him 6-2, 6-4 in just over one hour. He next faces Germany’s Tobias Kamke, who overcame wild-card Vincent Millot of France 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a scrappy contest. Neither managed to serve an ace and they dropped serve six times each.
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