ATHLETICS
Runner admits stabbing
An English champion fell runner yesterday admitted to the attempted murder of former rugby union player turned athletics administrator Ralph Knibbs. Lauren Jeska, 41, pleaded guilty to attempting to kill Knibbs, who was stabbed at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England, in March. Jeska also admitted two charges of having a knife in a public place, during a video-link appearance at Birmingham Crown Court. Knibbs, British Athletics’s head of human resources and welfare, was in court to hear Jeska enter her pleas from a video suite at Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire, England. Judge Philip Parker was told Jeska had been the subject of psychiatric assessment, but that further reports would be needed before she was sentenced on Nov. 15. Fell running, also known as hill or mountain running, is an established sport in rural areas of Britain.
OLYMPICS
Ali to get posthumous nod
The first Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award will recognize the late Muhammad Ali. The Owens Award was started this year, the 80th anniversary of Owens’ four-gold-medal performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and is to be presented annually to recognize Olympians who have served as an inspiration in society. Owens’ granddaughter, Marlene Dortch, will present the award at next week’s Best of the Games awards ceremony to Ali’s widow, Lonnie. Ali won the gold medal at the Rome 1960 Olympics, then took three world heavyweight championships — in 1964, 1974 and 1978.
RUGBY UNION
Thorn set for comeback
Rugby World Cup winner Brad Thorn is expected to make his return to top-class rugby at the age of 41 tomorrow after he was named in the Queensland Country squad to play in Australia’s National Rugby Championship. New Zealand-born Thorn ended his international rugby career after the All Blacks won the 2011 World Cup, but continued to play for Irish side Leinster, the Otago Highlanders and then English club Leicester Tigers until last year. Thorn never officially retired and when he joined the Queensland Reds he hinted he would be keen to participate in this year’s competition if needed. He did not play for the Reds but became a player-coach under former Wallabies loose forward Toutai Kefu for Queensland Country in Australia’s third tier competition and was named in the squad for tomorrow’s clash against the Western Sydney Rams.
NFL
Peterson to undergo surgery
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson on Wednesday said he will undergo surgery on his injured knee this week as his team acknowledged he might be sidelined for the rest of the season. Peterson, 31, told ESPN he was scheduled to go under the knife yesterday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee following last weekend’s win over the Green Bay Packers. “[I’m] doing it with faith and optimism,” Peterson told ESPN. ESPN reported that Peterson, the leading running back in the NFL last season, had suffered what was known as a “bucket handle tear.” The typical recovery time for the injury was between three and six months, ESPN reported.
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