CRICKET
Second day washed out
The entire second day’s play in the second and final Test between Bangladesh and South Africa was wiped out yesterday as rain continued to wreak havoc in the series. Heavy downpours washed out the morning session and rain was pouring again in the afternoon, prompting the match official to abandon play after lunch. When and if the action resumes today, Bangladesh will continue on 246-8 after opting to bat first at Mirpur’s Shere Bangla National Stadium.
SOCCER
Fenerbahce lodge protest
Turkish club Fenerbahce SK have lodged a protest with UEFA over the inclusion of midfielder Fred in the Shakhtar Donetsk lineup for Tuesday’s Champions League qualifier despite allegations of a doping offense hanging over the Brazil international. According to reports in Brazil, the 22-year-old tested positive for a banned diuretic at the Copa America in Chile and faces a lengthy ban from the game should his second sample confirm the findings. Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu selected Fred in the 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League third qualifying round in Turkey, despite the club being advised by the European governing body not to include the player. UEFA said it was investigating the matter and would announce a decision on Monday, according to a letter from UEFA published on Fenerbahce’s Web site.
RUGBY UNION
Cup schedule faces redo
Rugby bosses are to reorganize the 2019 World Cup schedule in the next month after Japan’s decision to scrap a new national stadium because of the cost, World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset told reporters yesterday. Lapasset said the world body could press for financial compensation, but that for the moment there is no question of moving the tournament from Japan. “We have given ourselves one month to get out of this situation. We must not delay, not have any doubts,” Lapasset said on the sidelines of International Olympic Committee meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “We must have something ready in a month,” he added. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shocked World Rugby this month when he scrapped plans for a national stadium for the 2020 Olympics. The stadium was also to be used for the Rugby World Cup in 2019, including the final. Abe said the US$2 billion cost of the stadium was too high and a new design should be found. The new stadium will not be ready for 2019. Lapasset said the sale of tickets was a “sensitive” topic. He said: “We have requested a precise analysis and we are considering [seeking] financial compensation if the losses are quite heavy.” He said there would be between 15,000 and 20,000 fewer tickets for each match that cannot be held at the proposed new Tokyo stadium. Lapasset said the Japanese rugby federation was also angry at the stadium change and had apologized.
RUGBY UNION
Giteau included in squad
Matt Giteau has recovered from a sternum injury and has been named in an extended 31-man Australia squad preparing for the Rugby Championship decider against New Zealand. Giteau, who was playing his first Test in four years when he was injured during Australia’s win over South Africa on July 18, missed the 34-9 victory in Argentina last weekend. Australia and New Zealand each have two wins heading into the Aug. 8 Test in Sydney. Wallabies coach Michael Cheika also recalled backrower Wycliff Palu and drafted in uncapped Melbourne Rebels prop Toby Smith.
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