ATHLETICS
Stepanova applies for Rio
A Russian whistle-blower whose testimony sparked an international doping scandal is planning to return to track and field and compete at the Rio Olympics in August. Yulia Stepanova and her husband, a former anti-doping official, left Russia in 2014 after providing undercover footage of apparent doping violations to a German TV channel. She has now applied to the International Association of Athletics Federations to compete in Rio “in a capacity other than as a Russian athlete,” the track and field’s world governing body said in a statement. The association said “the request will be considered.” The International Olympic Committee has previously allowed stateless or refugee athletes to compete under the Olympic flag, but it was not clear whether Stepanova was seeking to do so.
CYCLING
Matthews wins yellow jersey
Australian sprinter Michael Matthews on Sunday won the Paris-Nice prologue to grab the Race to the Sun’s yellow jersey. Matthews, a silver medalist at the road world championships last year, upset the time-trial specialists to win the 6km race against the clock outside Paris in 7 minutes, 39 seconds. “I was thinking a top five was possible on a course like this,” Matthews said. “It was hilly, with lots of technical corners, which suits me. I had high hopes, but I didn’t think I could win this.” Making his season debut, Matthews was one second faster than Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands, while New Zealand’s Patrick Bevin ended third, another second back. Paris-Nice defending champion Richie Porte finished 11th after clocking 7 minutes, 49 seconds. Matthews had already worn the Paris-Nice’s leader jersey after winning a stage last year. Among the overall contenders, Geraint Thomas posted the fastest time, seven seconds behind Matthews, with former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador lagging 16 seconds behind.
TENNIS
Watson defeats Flipkens
Britain’s Heather Watson on Sunday rallied to defeat Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to win the Abierto Monterrey Afirme final for her third career crown. Watson’s prior WTA singles titles came in 2012 at Osaka and last year at Hobart. The 25-year-old Englishwoman, ranked 84th in the world, took her first victory in three meetings with the 73rd-rated Belgian, having lost in the second round at Indian Wells in 2011 and round one at Washington in 2014. Watson fired seven aces, six of them in dropping the opening set, before fighting back to win after 1 hour, 57 minutes. Flipkens, 30, lost a chance for her second career WTA crown, the first having come in 2012 at Quebec City.
TENNIS
Svitolina wins in Malaysia
Second-seeded Elina Svitolina on Sunday came back to beat Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard 6-7 (7/5), 6-4, 7-5 in the rain interrupted BMW Malaysian Open final. The match finished at midnight local time, as rain interrupted play for more than 3 hours before the 21-year-old won out. Bouchard and Svitolina were on court for 2 hours, 53 minutes between the three rain interruptions before the Ukrainian got a crucial break late in the decisive set to clinch the title. Svitolina lost the first set in a tight tiebreaker and Bouchard could not capitalize on early breaks in the second set. Despite breaking Svitolina’s serve twice early in the second, Bouchard could not hold her serve in the eighth and 10th games to lose 6-4 before the final was stretched to midnight due to two long rain interruptions.
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