BASEBALL
A-Rod gets boos, win
Alex Rodriguez got the raucous booing he expected and the victory his team needed. Rodriguez drove in a run with a bases-loaded dribbler, capping a three-run rally in the eighth inning that lifted the New York Yankees over the Red Sox 4-2 on Thursday night and sent New York’s polarizing designated hitter out of Boston with one last victory. “It was a lot of fun to be out there,” Rodriguez said after his only start in the series. “Kind of a funny hit at the end. Not how I pictured it when I woke up this morning, but definitely I’m glad that run came in and we won the game.” Rodriguez was to play his final game for New York yesterday at Yankee Stadium against Tampa Bay. The slumping 41-year-old will then be released and become an adviser and instructor for the team. Rodriguez was 0 for 4 and loudly jeered throughout the game, which turned in the Yankees’ favor on a crucial fielding mistake that allowed them to overcome a 2-1 deficit and take two out of three in the series.
SOCCER
Calleri moves to West Ham
Argentine striker Jonathan Calleri has moved to West Ham United on a season-long loan from Deportivo Maldonado, the Premier League side confirmed on Thursday. The 22-year-old played at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for Argentina, who were eliminated in the group stage, and is to arrive in London next week. “Unfortunately for him, but good for us, Argentina were knocked out of the Olympics this week,” West Ham coach Slaven Bilic told the club’s Web site. “So he should be here with us pretty soon, depending on the work permit.” Calleri spent the first six months of this year on loan with Brazilian side Sao Paulo and was top scorer in the Copa Libertadores, having previously represented Boca Juniors in his homeland.
SOCCER
Palace face ‘transition’
Crystal Palace coach Alan Pardew has warned fans that they should expect a season of transition from his side as they look to establish themselves higher up the Premier League table. Palace started strongly last season and were fifth on New Year’s Day, but faded away during the second half of the campaign, finishing 15th, only five points clear of the relegation zone. “There’s only one way for us and that’s to improve and get better,” Pardew told journalists on Thursday. “This is going to be a team in transition this season. Really and truly we should have finished 12th to 10th last year. We had a disappointing second half of the season.” Pardew acknowledged that he is keen to help Palace advance without losing any of the “spirit and soul” of the club. “This club has grown massively,” the 55-year-old said. “We’re in unprecedented territory — our fourth year in the top division. It’s going to be an exciting season.” Palace begin their Premier League campaign at home against West Bromwich Albion today.
CRICKET
Ali rescues England
Moeen Ali helped England to 328 all out on the first day of the fourth Test against Pakistan on Thursday, before Pakistan moved to 138-3 at press time last night. Fast bowler Sohail Khan (5-68) had the best figures in the first innings, but Ali’s 108 rescued England after they had been 110-5.
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