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.
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