OLYMPICS
Russia ‘still has time’
The author of the report that detailed corruption in Russia’s anti-doping efforts believes there is still time for the country’s track team to make it to the Olympics, even if changing the culture of the programs will take more time. Dick Pound was the lead investigator of an independent commission that looked at the doping in Russia. He said that for a country that essentially “built Sochi in seven years” to host last year’s Winter Olympics, cleaning up the problem “is child’s play.” Pound said all it would take is some direction from Russian politicians to insist on a cleanup of Russia’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA), its anti-doping lab and the track team. Pound spoke to members of the World Anti-Doping Agency, who were to meet yesterday to decide whether to decertify RUSADA.
BASEBALL
Maddon, Banister honored
Joe Maddon has won his third Manager of the Year award, earning his first in the National League after guiding the Chicago Cubs to their first post-season berth since 2008. Maddon got 18 first-place votes for 124 points from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in balloting announced on Tuesday. Maddon becomes the seventh manager to win the award three times and the seventh to earn it in both leagues. He won the American League award with Tampa Bay in 2008 and 2011. Texas’ Jeff Banister was given the American League honor, the fifth first-year big league manager to win the award.
SKIING
Grubelnik dies in car crash
Former Slovenia slalom skier Drago Grubelnik, who had been head coach of the Bulgarian team since 2013, has died in a car crash in Austria, the Bulgarian ski federation said. The 39-year-old, who competed at three consecutive Winter Olympics from 1998 died on Tuesday after the car he was driving swerved off a mountain road and rolled down a hill near the Austrian resort of Soelden. Grubelnik, who retired from competitive skiing in 2007, reached one World Cup podium when he finished third in Wengen, Switzerland, in January, 2000. The federation added that Bulgarian skier Albert Popov and assistant coach Dimitar Hristov were hospitalized after suffering injuries in the accident. “The Bulgarian Ski Federation expresses its sincerest condolences to the family of Drago Grubelnik and prays for the quick recovery of Dimitar Hristov and Albert Popov,” the federation said in a statement.
SOCCER
Thiago out with knee injury
Bayern Munich on Tuesday confirmed that Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara will miss up to four weeks after reinjuring his problematic right knee while on Spain duty. Thiago injured his right knee in Spain’s 2-0 win over England on Friday, an MRI scan revealed swelling on the medial ligament and Bayern’s medical staff now expect him to miss between three to four weeks. The 24-year-old has injured the medial ligament in his right knee three times in his career and was previously out from February last year until April this year. German league leaders Bayern have eight games left before the winter break starts next month and face Schalke 04 away on Saturday in the Bundesliga before hosting Olympiakos in the Champions League on Tuesday next week. Thiago has made 19 appearances for both club and country so far this season.
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
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