OLYMPICS
Arrests prompt concern
Athletics Kenya on Friday warned that the arrest and arraignment of leading agent Federico Rosa could have a negative effect on athletes’ performances at next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Rosa is a director of Rosa and Associati, an Italian-based sports management company that has managed a large number of Kenyan athletes since 1990. It counts former Olympic and three-time 1,500m world champion Asbel Kiprop as one of its members. “Athletics Kenya has learnt through third parties and the media of the arrest, questioning and arraignment in court of Mr Federico Rosa and his father, Dr Gabriele Rosa, who are senior members of the athletes representative accredited from Rosa and Associati of Italy,” the federation said in a statement. “We would like to point out that since Friday the authorities have not informed us or shared any information regarding the charges against the Rosas.”
SOCCER
Sakho proceedings dropped
UEFA on Friday dropped proceedings against Liverpool and France international defender Mamadou Sakho over a doping infringement, European soccer’s governing body said. “Following a hearing with the lawyers of the player and experts of the WADA [World Anti-Doping Association]-accredited laboratories on this case, the CEDB has decided to dismiss the case,” UEFA said in a statement, referring to its Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body. Sakho, 26, who was left out of the France squad for the Euro 2016 tournament, tested positive after a Europa League tie against Manchester United on March 17 after taking a product to reduce body fat. He served an initial 30-day suspension that was not extended. The centerback is said not to have known the composition of the weight-loss supplement and informed UEFA that he had acted in good faith. The player was available for international duty at Euro 2016, but manager Didier Deschamps left him out of the finals squad.
BASEBALL
Kang silent over probe
South Korean third baseman Kang Jung-ho had no comment on Friday on a reported probe of a sex assault allegation against him in Chicago as he and his Pirates teammates returned to Pittsburgh. “I’m just thinking about baseball right now and unfortunately I can’t comment on any matters of the investigation at this point,” Kang told reporters via his translator, H.K. Kim, as the Pirates prepared for a Major League Baseball game against the Chicago Cubs. The Chicago Tribune on Tuesday reported that Chicago police are investigating Kang after a 23-year-old woman alleged he sexually assaulted her last month in a Chicago hotel room. The newspaper said the incident took place in Chicago when the Pirates were in town to play the Cubs. No charges have been laid and Kang remains with the team.
OLYMPICS
Johnson withdraws from Rio
World No. 2 Dustin Johnson, who won his first major title at the US Open Golf Championship last month, will not play in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of concerns over the Zika virus. In a statement released to the Golf Channel on Friday by his agent, David Winkle of Hambric Sports Management, Johnson said his hopes of expanding his family with fiancee Paulina Gretzky meant it would be “irresponsible” to risk contracting the mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to birth defects.
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