RUGBY UNION
Fiji overtake Tonga at home
Fiji came from behind to beat Tonga 30-22 in a bone-jarring Pacific Nations Cup encounter in Suva yesterday. In a clash full of direct running and big tackles, Tonga led 22-16 going into the last 15 minutes before their high error count caught up with them. There were three tries apiece, with Fiji scoring two of theirs as they controlled the closing stages to make a positive start to the 10th edition of the tournament. In the only game of the tournament to be played in the Pacific, with the remainder in the US and Canada, Tonga rocked the 2013 champions with a punishing start. Nili Latu and Taniela Moa led a straight-up-the-middle approach, pinning Fiji deep in the own territory for most of the first quarter. Exeter wing Fetu’u Vainikolo dotted down first. Moa started the move when he plowed through a floundering defense before Latu fired a long pass out to Vainikolo who scored in the corner. Fiji hit the front when Henry Seniloli scored after a big run down the right wing by Lepani Botia who swatted would-be defenders aside with ease. Tonga regained the lead after halftime with a try to Telusa Veainu, converted by Lilo, and after Volavola put Fiji back in front 16-15 with two further penalties, Tonga again gained the initiative when Sonatane Takulua scored. However, Fiji were not done and came back with tries to Waisea Nayacalevu and Peni Ravai to seal the match.
SOCCER
Bolivian boss arrested
Police in Bolivia have arrested the president of the nation’s soccer federation for alleged corruption. The prosecutor’s office issued a brief statement on Carlos Chavez’s arrest that offered no details beyond saying it was part of an “investigation of presumed corruption” in managing state resources. Chavez was arrested after eight hours of questioning and ordered jailed in Sucre, where the prosecutor’s office is located. The coach of one club in Bolivia’s soccer league accused Chavez of embezzling funds from the national federation. Chavez said on Friday morning as he submitted to questioning that there was no proof to the accusations.
SOCCER
Miami stadium planned
Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said on Friday that a group led by former English soccer star David Beckham has confirmed plans to build a stadium near the city’s downtown next to the Miami Marlins baseball park. The Beckham group previously spurned the proposed site for the Major League Soccer franchise they announced in Miami last year. One of Beckham’s partners, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, tweeted that the group had “presented ... our intentions” for the new stadium to the mayor on Friday morning.
RUGBY UNION
Break ends Naholo’s season
All Blacks winger Waisake Naholo suffered a broken leg during his Test debut against Argentina on Friday and has been ruled out of contention for this year’s World Cup. Fiji-born Naholo, who scored 13 tries for the Dunedin-based Highlanders during the Super Rugby season, made a strong debut before leaving the field midway through the second half of the Rugby Championship Test with what was thought to be a sprained ankle. He was omitted yesterday from the All Blacks’ 31-man squad for the Championship match against the Springboks in Johannesburg next weekend. X-rays revealed Naholo had suffered a cracked fibia and he will not have recovered in time to play at the World Cup, which starts in Britain in September.
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