BASKETBALL
Lin craves night market time
Jeremy Lin, the first NBA player of Taiwanese descent, on Monday said that he hopes to spend more time at Taiwan’s night markets — his favorite places in the nation. Visiting Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year as part of an Asian tour, Lin said at a news briefing in Taipei that he had spent only 10 to 15 minutes at the nation’s night markets on his previous trips. “So I hoped that there would be a year when I could stay longer and look around at night markets, which have been my favorite places since my childhood,” said Lin, whose contract with the Los Angeles Lakers expires today.
SOCCER
Guangzhou sign Paulinho
Brazil midfielder Paulinho has signed for Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande for 14 million euros (US$15.6 million), the club said, the latest big-money transfer for the cash-rich Chinese Super League. The 26-year-old signed from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in his former national team manager Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first deal at the Guangdong outfit after taking over earlier this month. Guangzhou are aiming to clinch a fifth successive league title this year, but sit third in the league behind leaders Beijing Guoan, following a run in which they have won just once in four games.
OLYMPICS
Group issues Boston details
The group trying to bring the 2024 Olympics to Boston has released the most detailed look yet at its bid for the Summer Games. It said its US$4.6 billion plan would create jobs and housing, expand the tax base and leave behind an improved city with a US$210 million surplus. The announcement is designed to answer critics who say the privately funded Boston 2024 has withheld details of the bid to prevent the public from assessing whether the games could be staged without taxpayer money. Bid chairman Steve Pagliuca, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics, said the new plan goes deeper than the proposal that convinced the US Olympic Committee to pick Boston in January over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
CRICKET
ICC fines Sri Lanka for pace
Sri Lanka have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during the second Test against Pakistan in Colombo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday. ICC match referee Chris Broad of England imposed the fines after the hosts were found to be one over short of the target during the Test, which they won by seven wickets on Monday. Skipper Angelo Mathews was fined 20 percent of his undisclosed match fees and the rest of the team 10 percent according to regulations governing Test cricket, the ICC said in a statement. “Mathews pleaded guilty to the offense and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing,” Broad was quoted as saying in the statement.
CRICKET
World Cup surpasses record
The Cricket World Cup generated more than A$1 billion (US$767.6 million) for the economies of host countries Australia and New Zealand when it was held in February and March. An economic impact study released yesterday by the ICC also said the tournament created the equivalent of 8,320 full-time jobs and attracted 145,000 visitors to the countries solely to watch cricket. It said total attendance at tournament matches was 1,016,420, including 93,013 for the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a world record for the largest attendance at a cricket game.
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