BASKETBALL
Fan wins prize, engagement
It was quite a night for a New York state college basketball fan who made a half-court shot to win a US$500 gift card and received a marriage proposal seconds later. Erin Tobin took part in a Dunkin’ Donuts promotion at Thursday night’s Manhattan-Siena game at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York. As the company’s mascot stood nearby, the 30-year-old Siena graduate and season ticket holder banked in her half-court, one-handed heave. After celebrating, Tobin turned around to see the mascot’s giant coffee cup costume being removed to reveal her boyfriend, 31-year-old Steve Duckett, on his knee and holding an engagement ring. A very surprised Tobin said “yes” as the crowd cheered. Adding to an already big night, Siena beat Manhattan 94-71.
CRICKET
Richardson dies aged 85
Peter Richardson, who made a century for England in the 1956 Ashes Test in which Jim Laker took a world-record 19 wickets, has died aged 85, his former county Kent announced on Friday. Richardson accrued five centuries in the 34 Tests he played between 1956 and 1963 — starting his international career with two half-centuries in the 1956 Ashes series — and the opener finished his first year as a Test batsman with 491 runs to his credit, the most in the world that year. At the time he was an amateur playing for Worcestershire, but the county refused to allow him to turn professional, so he moved to Kent in 1958. He had to sit out the 1959 season, but having finally secured his move, he found competition for the opening spots in the Test team restricted his appearances.
OLYMPICS
Francophones protest slogan
Guardians of the French language were on Friday up in arms after the French National Olympic and Sports Committee adopted English-language slogan “Made for Sharing” to back France’s bid to host the Games in 2024. The Academie Francaise, official custodian of the language of Moliere, said it was no better than a pizza ad. Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest are vying to host the 2024 Games, and the committee has said it chose the English-language slogan to broaden its appeal for the wider world. Another group whose aim is the defense of French usage said the choice was an insult to the French language and proposed instead the rallying cry of “Venez partager!” (Come and share!). They said they would lodge an official appeal against adoption of the English-language slogan. The Academie Francaise, expressing its disapproval, said the slogan had already been widely used in publicity campaigns, mainly for selling pizzas and sweets.
RUGBY UNION
Carter apologizes from NZ
Former All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter has returned to New Zealand for a planned holiday after he failed a drunk driving test in Paris earlier this week. The three-time World Player of the Year, who plays in France’s Top 14 for Racing 92, was tested by police after being stopped in his car near the Champs Elysses in the center of the city, French media reported. Carter said he had made a “massive error of judgement” and apologized for the incident. “Just got back to NZ for what was supposed to be a fun pre planned holiday,” Carter wrote on Facebook yesterday. “Seeing the family again puts fresh perspective on just how big a mistake I made. #dontdrinkanddrive.” The 34-year-old Rugby World Cup winner suffered a groin injury last month and is still undergoing treatment while the French league is on break.
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