CRICKET
Pietersen fined for comment
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has been charged with a code of conduct breach in Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash League and fined, Cricket Australia said yesterday. He was reported for breaching the body’s code of conduct in making a comment detrimental to the interests of cricket while playing for the Melbourne Stars against the Perth Scorchers in a Big Bash League semi-final in Perth, Australia, on Jan. 24. The offense occurred during the Scorchers’ innings, when batsman Sam Whiteman was given not out following an appeal for caught behind by the Stars and Pietersen commented on the umpire’s decision while wearing a microphone. Match referee David Talalla considered the umpires’ report and the proposed sanction was a A$5,000 (US$3,824) fine. Pietersen accepted the charge, but elected to dispute the sanction. The match referee set a hearing for Thursday and announced the decision was upheld yesterday.
GOLF
Woods pulls out of Dubai
Former world No. 1 Tiger Woods pulled out of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic ahead of his second round because of a back problem, the European Tour said yesterday. The 14-time major champion, now ranked 666th after his long injury layoff due to back problems, recorded a miserable five-over 77 on the opening day on Thursday. Woods, 41, looked out of sorts as he continued his comeback at the European Tour event. However, his chances of avoiding another early exit looked slim on Thursday, as he appeared to be in some discomfort as he struggled to find a rhythm. After his round, Woods said he was not in any pain on the course, but decided to withdraw yesterday morning, trailing overnight leader Sergio Garcia by 12 shots.
SOCCER
Celta Vigo, Alaves draw 0-0
RC Celta de Vigo on Thursday rattled the crossbar, but could not find a breakthrough as they were held to a goalless draw at home in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against Deportivo Alaves. Celta’s Iago Aspas was denied by the woodwork in the 67th minute on a bullet strike from the heart of the area on a rain-soaked pitch at the Estadio Municipal de Balaidos. Three-time finalists Celta dominated possession for most of the first half, only for Alaves to create the first chance in the 40th minute. The visitors launched a counterattack that ended with Manu Garcia getting on the end of Victor Camarasa’s cross and striking a left-footed effort toward the near post that drew a flying save from Celta goalkeeper Sergio Alvarez.
TENNIS
Halep exits St Petersburg
Simona Halep yesterday withdrew from the St Petersburg Ladies’ Trophy because of a knee injury, the same issue that she blamed for her opening-round loss at the Australian Open. The fourth-ranked Romanian had said she was pain-free after her win over Ana Konjuh earlier this week. Halep was the top-seeded player in St Petersburg. Her withdrawal sends Russian wild-card entry Natalia Vikhlyantseva into the semi-finals, matching her best showing at a WTA tournament. Vikhlyantseva is to play either defending champion Roberta Vinci or Kristina Mladenovic.
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