Soccer
Russia cuts World Cup costs
Russia has decided to cut its spending on the 2018 World Cup by 6 billion rubles (US$79 million), a state decree posted on a government Web site showed on Thursday. Russia has already made cuts in its budget for the tournament as falling prices for its oil exports and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its role in the Ukraine crisis squeeze the economy and government revenues.
NFL
Manziel case referred
A domestic violence complaint accusing Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel of beating his ex-girlfriend has been referred to a grand jury, Dallas police said on Thursday. The former Heisman Trophy winner, 23, is being investigated on suspicion of hitting, kidnapping and threatening to kill 23-year-old Colleen Crowley last month, police said. Manziel has not spoken to media about the accusations. His attorney was not immediately available for comment. “Today, a Class A misdemeanor assault/domestic violence case has been referred to the Dallas County District Attorney’s office for presentation to a grand jury,” police said in a written statement. Dallas Police said they would not release any further information on the case.
Formula One
Hamilton hails ‘fantastic’ car
Triple Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton hailed his “fantastic” Mercedes after wrapping up the first pre-season test with another 99 laps before lunchtime on Thursday. “It’s been an incredible week of testing for us because we’ve done more mileage than we ever had before,” the Briton told reporters at the Circuit de Catalunya before handing over to German teammate Nico Rosberg for the afternoon session.
Baseball
New slide rule announced
Rolling slides to break up double plays will not be permitted starting with this year’s season according to new regulations adopted on Thursday by MLB and the MLB Players’ Association. The World Umpires Association also approved the banishment of so-called block slides after New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada suffered a broken leg on a takeout at second base in last year’s playoffs by Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Chase Utley.
Golf
Game missing ‘Tiger’ factor
While exciting young guns Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day have been pivotal in drawing a wide audience to the game, the sport is missing the “Tiger” factor when it comes to “fringe fans,” said Ken Kennerly, executive director of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic. Tiger Woods, the greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, has not competed since August last year after enduring setbacks in his recovery from back surgeries and has not set a timetable for his return to the PGA Tour.
NFL
Player sues ESPN reporter
New York Giants football player Jason Pierre-Paul, who lost a finger in a fireworks accident last year, has sued an ESPN reporter for posting a copy of his medical records on Twitter. The lawsuit, filed in state court in Miami on Wednesday, accuses Adam Schefter of “blatant disregard for the private and confidential nature” of Pierre-Paul’s records when he tweeted an image of hospital records to his nearly 4 million followers on July 8 last year. The document confirmed Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated.
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