CRICKET
Warne bit by snake on TV
Retired Australia spin bowler Shane Warne has suffered a snakebite after dipping his head into a box full of the reptiles for a reality television show. A promo clip for the Network Ten show I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! shows the 46-year-old former leg-spinner being nipped on his head by an anaconda. “The juvenile anaconda is the one that actually struck Shane,” a Network Ten spokesperson told the news.com.au Web site. “It’s non-venomous, but very aggressive. Anacondas have 100 rear-facing teeth. Being bitten by one is like getting 100 hypodermic needles at once.” The Daily Telegraph reported that Warne received treatment from medics on the strike area and though he has some small marks from the bite, there will be no permanent scarring. “Shane has made no secret that snakes are one of his greatest fears so it’s amazing that after being bitten he bravely continued with the trial,” executive producer Stephen Tate told the Daily Telegraph. “When Shane puts his mind to a task, he won’t let anything stop him.” Warne, who took 708 test wickets and scored more than 3,000 runs, is considered one of the best spin bowlers of all time.
TENNIS
Wawrinka reaches quarters
Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka hit 49 winners and saved two match points to reach the quarter-finals of the Open 13 in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8) win over Sergiy Stakhovsky on Wednesday. The defending French Open champion was on the verge of defeat in the tiebreak, but hit two big serves to stay in the match, and then sealed his win on his second match point with a backhand passing shot. The fourth-ranked Swiss, who was beaten by Stakhovsky in Marseille last year, played his first match since losing in the Australian Open round of 16 to Milos Raonic. Sixth-seeded David Goffin also advanced to the quarter-finals when Mischa Zverev retired with the Belgian leading 6-1, 2-0.
SOCCER
Drogba defends Aurier
Former Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba on Wednesday leapt to the defense of suspended compatriot Serge Aurier, claiming the Paris Saint-Germain defender had been treated unfairly over his ban for abusing coach Laurent Blanc. In a lengthy post on Twitter, the Montreal Impact striker complained that Aurier’s treatment for directing homophobic abuse against Blanc amounted to double standards. Although Aurier has since apologized for his rant, Drogba said that he believed the reaction to the Ivory Coast international’s comments had been excessive. “I don’t often comment on these things but the way my little brother @serge_aurier has been treated over the past few days has really upset me so I feel the need to say something,” Drogba said. “Yes he made a mistake, yes he said things he should not have said, but we have all made mistakes, players (myself included), coaches, managers, referees, club presidents, even the fans! Even the people saying he should be ‘put in jail’.... how can young players learn from their mistakes if they are not given the proper support and advice? Should we not be educating younger players on how to behave, preparing them for a world where social media can make or break your career? Or are we simply pointing the finger and banning some players but not others? Which simply achieves nothing... Bon courage mon frere. #justiceadeuxvitesses’”. Aurier, 23, was suspended by PSG on Sunday, ruling him out of his team’s 2-1 win over Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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