OLYMPICS
WADA seeks outside experts
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) wants three outside experts to oversee the cleanup of Russia’s anti-doping system. A WADA report in November last year accused Russia of operating a state-sponsored doping program in track and field and also led to the national anti-doping agency RUSADA being stopped from carrying out tests, following accusations that it covered up drug use by Russian athletes. As RUSADA tries to earn back its right to run Russia’s anti-doping operation, WADA says it will appoint two “international experts” to oversee the process and wants a third to sit on RUSADA’s board. The UK Anti-Doping Agency on Wednesday said it is close to signing a contract to run Russia’s doping test system across all sports while RUSADA is suspended.
BOXING
Brook to fight Bizier
Britain’s Kell Brook will make the third defense of his IBF welterweight title against Canadian mandatory challenger Kevin Bizier in Sheffield, England, on March 26, he announced on Wednesday. Brook, 29, has overcome the rib injury that obliged him to cancel a prospective fight with Diego Chaves in October last year. “While I was gutted to miss out on fighting in October, I’ve fully recovered from the injury and feel stronger than ever,” Brook said. “I’ve been working hard in the gym and working on new things, and I cannot wait to put on another explosive performance for my hometown fans and prove I am the best 147lb fighter on the planet.” Brook (35-0-0) last fought in May last year, when he pulled off a comfortable six-round win over compatriot Frankie Gavin. Bizier, 31, has won 25 of his 27 bouts (25-2-0), but lost in 2014 to Romania’s Ionut Dan Ion, who Brook beat in four rounds in March last year.
SOCCER
Ref ‘asked player out’
A soccer player in Spain who said a referee tried to ask her out during a game will not file a formal complaint because it is her word against his. Romanian defender Elena Pavel accused referee Santiago Quijada Alcon of trying to provoke her by asking her on a date in Sporting Huelva’s first-division game against Santa Teresa on Sunday. Pavel told the Marca newspaper she felt “humiliated,” but will not take further action, partly because nobody else witnessed the incident. According to Pavel, the referee said he wanted to grab a cup of coffee with her after the game. She said she told him to keep the focus on his officiating. The referee denied saying anything to Pavel, and the local referee’s association on Wednesday said it might take action against Pavel because of her accusation. In 2012, Pavel was accused of racist insults against an opposing player, prompting Sporting Huelva to release an official statement defending her. The 31-year-old Pavel is a former player on Romania’s national team.
SOCCER
Rastar takes over Espanyol
Chinese model car maker Rastar Group on Wednesday completed its takeover of La Liga side RCD Espanyol as the old board of the Barcelona-based club announced their resignation.The deal will see Rastar, which also specializes in toys and video games, invest 50 million euros (US$54.51 million) for a 54 percent stake. Rastar announced when the deal was first struck in November that they would buy between 45.1 and 56 percent at 78 euros per share. Espanyol are currently in 14th place in La Liga, just five points above the relegation zone.
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