BASEBALL
Marlins fire Barry Bonds
Home run king Barry Bonds has been fired as hitting coach of the Miami Marlins after just one season, US media reports said on Monday. Bonds, whose record-breaking career was marred by his involvement in baseball’s steroids scandal, was dumped by the Marlins after the Florida franchise finished the season 79-82. As well as Bonds, third base coach Lenny Harris and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius were axed from manager Don Mattingly’s staff. Bonds paid the price for a disappointing offensive season which produced only 655 runs, 27th out of 30 Major League Baseball teams. The Marlins also managed only 128 home runs, higher than only the Atlanta Braves’ total of 122.
BOXING
Fury U-turns on retirement
Three hours after declaring he had retired, troubled world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury on Monday again took to Twitter to announce: “I’m here to stay.” The contradictory tweets came almost two weeks after the British fighter called off his title rematch against Wladimir Klitschko for a second time. The official reason given then was that Fury was “medically unfit,” with no details provided. Fury had earlier been charged by UK Anti-Doping over a positive test. Fresh reports emerged on Friday last week of alleged drug issues. On Monday morning, Fury wrote on Twitter: “Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in, all a pile of shit, I’m the greatest, & I’m also retired, so go suck a dick, happy days.” As news of Fury’s apparent retirement spread, he returned to Twitter on Monday afternoon, saying: “Hahahaha u think you will get rid of the GYPSYKING that easy!!!”
SOCCER
Udinese hire Luigi Delneri
Udinese have appointed Luigi Delneri as their coach on a one-year contract, with the option to renew it for a second one, the Serie A club said. Udinese, 16th in the standings with seven points, on Sunday fired Giuseppe Iachini after a 3-0 home loss to SS Lazio, their fourth consecutive league game without a win. Delneri coached Hellas Verona last season after Andrea Mandorlini was fired in November last year, but was unable to help the club avoid relegation. Delneri, 66, has coached several Serie A clubs, including champions Juventus and AS Roma.
TENNIS
Kyrgios wins in hot Tokyo
Sixth-seeded Nick Kyrgios kept his cool as temperatures rose at the Rakuten Japan Open, beating US qualifier Ryan Harrison 7-5, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Radek Stepanek in the second round. Kyrgios yesterday made the only break of a tight first set in the 11th game, shortly after a spectator fell on steps high in the stands. The incident forced a 10-minute suspension, during which Kyrgios sent some water up to the injured spectator. As the temperature hit 31°C at the start of the second set, Harrison’s serve wilted and Kyrgios broke to take a 3-2 lead. Kyrgios then held before Harrison lost his temper in a decisive seventh game, twice smashing his racket into the ground, and once hitting a ball into the crowd in-between points. Fifth-seeded David Goffin beat Japanese wild-card entry Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-2 and next faces Jiri Vesely, who rallied to a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
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