TENNIS
Wozniacki through in Mexico
Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on Thursday defeated Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme in Mexico. “It was very tough,” Wozniacki was quoted as saying on the WTA Web site. “[Lucic-Baroni] plays really strong and really hard from the baseline and I didn’t have much time to get ready for my shots. So yeah, I’m very happy to be through.” In the earlier games, No. 1 seed Sara Errani of Italy went down to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-3, France’s Caroline Garcia toppled Israel’s Julia Glushko 6-1, 6-2, Pauline Parmentier of France overcame Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig 6-3, 6-4, while the US’ Nicole Gibbs outlasted fellow American Christina McHale, who was forced to retire at 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 3-0 due to dizziness.
CYCLING
Wine row gets corked
Tour de France organizers have invited local wine producers to showcase their products during the race, after they had threatened to disrupt this year’s edition in protest at a Chilean wine being an official partner. Race supremo Christian Prudhomme on Thursday said that he and five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault met the producers for talks at the annual Paris Agriculture Fair this week. Upset to discover that the Chilean wine “Bicicleta” was the Tour’s official wine, the two sides met in an effort to strike a deal. “We discussed the idea of regional producers showcasing their products at all the towns on the Tour itinerary,” Prudhomme said. “There is no problem at all. Wine producers and cooperatives can promote their products on the Tour de France.” The head of the French wine producers council Jerome Despey, who invited Prudhomme to the Agriculture Fair, said the matter was settled. “It would have been a mistake to block the Tour de France,” Despey said.
TENNIS
Sharapova still injured
World No. 7 Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from next week’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells after failing to recover from a troublesome forearm injury. The Russian star said in a statement issued by tournament chiefs that she had pulled out in an effort to return to full fitness. “I am extremely disappointed that I am unable to compete in this year’s BNP Paribas Open,” Sharapova said. “I have been focused on healing my left forearm injury and tried to get my body to be 100 percent ready to play this event, as it is one of my favorite events on the WTA and so close to my home in LA. I know the tournament will be a great success this year and I will be anxious to return next year and hopefully many years after.” Sharapova has not played since exiting the Australian Open in the quarter-finals in January.
BODYBUILDING
Arnold Classic expanded
The series of sports festivals co-founded by US actor, bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is adding two new versions of the Arnold Classic for a total of six this year, each on a different continent. The Columbus Dispatch reported that the new versions are set to debut in Johannesburg in May and in Hong Kong in August. The Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, began on Thursday and runs through the weekend. It began as the original Arnold Classic in 1989 and now includes a massive health and fitness exposition and 70 sports and events, drawing nearly 20,000 athletes. The other festivals will be in Australia, Brazil and Spain.
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