GOLF
Mickelson on US team
Phil Mickelson was selected to the Presidents Cup as a captain’s pick, even though he was 30th in the standings and has not won in two years. US captain Jay Haas also picked his son, Bill Haas, though that was expected in most corners. Bill Haas played on the past two teams and was 11th in the standings. Haas described Mickelson as a team leader. International captain Nick Price selected Bae Sang-moon of South Korea and Steven Bowditch of Australia. The Presidents Cup runs from Oct. 8 to Oct. 11 in South Korea. Bae is facing his mandatory military service after the matches.
CRICKET
Pietersen to play in S Africa
Former England cricket star Kevin Pietersen will play five matches for Durban team Dolphins in the South African Twenty20 tournament this year, it was announced on Tuesday. The South African-born batsman last played competitively two months ago in the Caribbean Premier League and after his short South African stint, he will be involved in the Australian Big Bash T20 tournament. Pietersen, 35, began his senior cricket career with Dolphins and told a Johannesburg news conference he was relishing a return to his “roots.” “I am really excited,” he said. “There is a lot of young talent at the Dolphins and some experienced guys, too.” After a successful, but often controversial England career, outspoken Pietersen was dumped last year following an Ashes whitewash in Australia.
WRESTLING
Kayaalp stuns Lopez for title
Turkey’s Riza Kayaalp stunned Cuban Mijain Lopez 1-0 to win the heavyweight Greco-Roman title on the second day of the wrestling world championships on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. Kayaalp denied Lopez’s try for a sixth world title in the finals at 130kg. Kayaalp was joined as a world champion by countryman Selcuk Cebi. He took top honors at 80kg, defeating Belarussian Viktor Sasunkouski 2-0. Cuban Borrero Molina trounced Azerbaijan’s Rovshan Bayramov 8-0 at 59kg. Top-ranked Rasul Chunayev picked up the Azerbaijanian team’s spirits, beating Ukraine’s Armen Vardanyan 6-4. Lopez, who also has a pair of Olympic gold medals, opened with a 2-1 win over Russia’s Beylal Mahkov. He then beat the wrestler he defeated in London three years ago, Estonia’s Heike Nabi, and beat American Robby Smith on a technical fall. Lopez had not lost in international competition since 2011, when Kayaalp beat him in the worlds in Turkey, but Kayaalp stood tall, scoring in the second period and holding off a late push by the Cuban. Kayaalp and Lopez are likely headed for a rematch in the Rio Olympics.
OLYMPICS
Hughes reveals violation
Canadian Olympic star Clara Hughes has disclosed a doping violation from more than 20 years ago. The former cyclist and speedskater writes in her newly released biography that she tested positive for the banned substance ephedrine in 1994. She adds that the violation was intentionally kept quiet. The offense occurred before the creation of the World Anti-Doping Agency or Canada’s national anti-doping body. Hughes informed Cycling Canada in August of the revelation in her biography. Hughes is tied with Cindy Klassen for most Olympic medals won by a Canadian, having competed in both the Winter and Summer Games. Since retiring from competition, Hughes has become an advocate for mental health, drawing on her experience with depression.
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