BOXING
Graydon’s body found
The body of former British boxer Michael Graydon, who went missing last month, was found in a rocky crevice in Monaco on Friday, the prosecutor’s office of the principality said. His body was found by passers-by in a deep crevice on private land. Early investigations suggested he fell head-first. “An iPhone, a wallet and a driving license in Michael Graydon’s name were found in searches at the scene,” the prosecutor’s office said. The body was also identified by a distinctive tattoo of flowers on a bicep. Graydon, a former boxer who headed a boxing organization near Bristol in southeast England, was visiting Monaco to attend a bout. He went missing in the area in the early hours of Feb. 21 after spending the evening in a nightclub. CCTV footage showed him climbing a wall before falling into the crevice. A post-mortem examination is to be carried out to determine the cause of death, the prosecutor’s office said.
BOXING
50 Cent bets on Mayweather
Curtis Jackson, the rap music star better known as 50 Cent, said he will bet US$1.6 million on pal Floyd Mayweather Jr to beat Manny Pacquiao in their May boxing showdown. The much-anticipated bout is to be staged May 2 in Las Vegas and could be the richest payday in boxing history for undefeated Mayweather. “Champ is going to do it. He’s going to smoke him,” Jackson told radio station Power 105.1. “It’s going to look like he pumped up for no reason.” Asked if he would back up his confidence with a bet, Jackson replied: “Probably like 1.6 [million]. I’ve been thinking this out. I’m going to make a real bet. He’s focused right now.” Jackson last year taunted Mayweather’s reading ability after a radio station aired audio of the fighter struggling to read a promotion transcript. He challenged the US fighter to read a page from a Harry Potter book in exchange for a US$750,000 donation by Jackson to charity. Mayweather responded with a Twitter posting featuring a photo of two massive paychecks saying: “Read this $72,276000.00 God bless.”
TENNIS
Ivanovic makes semis
Top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the Monterrey Open semi-finals Friday night, beating Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-2. Ivanovic was to play third-seeded Caroline Garcia of France yesterday at the hard-court event at Club Sonoma. Garcia, the runner-up at last week’s Mexico Open in Acapulco, led eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 7-5 when Rybarikova retired. In the other quarter-finals, second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy topped fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 7-5, 6-4, while fourth-seeded Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 6-2. Bacsinszky won in Acapulco for her second WTA Tour title.
SNOWBOARDING
Japanese teen wins in US
Japanese teenager Yuki Kadono took the Burton US Open slopestyle contest on Friday, beating defending champion Mark McMorris with back-to-back, 1620-degree jumps on his final run. The 18-year-old, who finished eighth at the Olympics last year, added this victory to a win two weeks ago at Shaun White’s Air and Style contest at the Rose Bowl. McMorris was in the lead after landing back-to-back 1440-degree jumps in a run he had never tried before. Kadono did him half a revolution better on consecutive jumps to score a 90, beating McMorris by more than two points and taking the US$45,000 first prize.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set