CRICKET
Boycott decision looms
The Australian Cricketers’ Association executive is to meet today to decide whether players will boycott this month’s Australia A tour to South Africa after a failure to strike a new pay deal with Cricket Australia. The national body and the players’ union both confirmed that they had failed to reach an agreement on a new memorandum of understanding before Friday’s deadline, leaving players unemployed and threatening fixtures including this year’s Ashes series. Leading fast bowler Josh Hazlewood said the breakdown in pay negotiations has left a bitter taste with the players. “We are, obviously, willing to do what we need to,” he said.
BOXING
Easter remains undefeated
Undefeated Robert Easter of the US on Friday retained his International Boxing Federation lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Russian southpaw Denis Shafikov in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio. Easter improved to 20-0 by judges’ scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 116-112, while Shafikov fell to 38-3 with one draw, his defeats all coming in IBF lightweight world title bouts. “I rate myself a B-minus,” Easter said. “I could have done a lot more better. Shafikov is a tough opponent, but we got the job done.” Easter, 26, landed hard right uppercuts in the early rounds, while the smaller Shafikov worked the body as the fighters stayed close to each other to trade numerous blows. Shafikov, 32, pressed the attack in the fifth and sixth rounds, connecting with his left hand time and again to frustrate the champion while setting the tempo. Easter connected on several combinations in the 10th round as both fights traded flurries to the 12th-round finish.
SOCCER
Villas-Boas, Hulk suspended
Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas and Brazilian player Hulk have been suspended for two games each by the Chinese Super League for speaking out against an eight-match ban for their Shanghai SIPG colleague Oscar. Former Chelsea midfielder Oscar was banned after SIPG’s 1-1 draw with Guangzhou R and F on June 18 for kicking the ball into two R and F players in succession in the last minute of the first half, which led to a melee on the field. Villas-Boas subsequently wrote on his Instagram account: “355 career games; 5 years in the English Premier League; 47 appearances for Brazil; 70 goals. ZERO RED CARDS!!! 8 games suspended.” The Chinese Football Association on Friday said the SIPG manager had been banned for making an “irresponsible comment” on social media which had made a “bad impact.” Hulk was banned for wearing a T-shirt after SIPG’s win over Henan Jianye last Sunday carrying a slogan supporting Oscar which read: “Nothing to do, nothing to say.” Chinese international Wu Lei also wore a T-shirt similar to Hulk’s and was banned for two matches.
BASKETBALL
Huge Curry deal reported
Stephen Curry has agreed to a record five-year, US$201 million “super max” deal to stay at the Golden State Warriors, reports said on Friday. The deal came immediately after the NBA’s free-agency period began and was done under the league’s designated veteran player extension, the reports said. Under the new designation, which was added to the current collective bargaining agreement, Curry was eligible for the lucrative deal since he won at least one MVP award in the past three seasons.
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