BOXING
Ferdinand to train to box
Former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is looking to become a professional boxer. The 38-year-old is to be trained by former World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Richie Woodhall, who has worked with Britain’s Olympic team. “I have always had a passion for it and this challenge is the perfect opportunity to show people what’s possible,” Ferdinand said in a statement yesterday. “It’s a challenge I’m not taking lightly — clearly not everyone can become a professional boxer — but with the team of experts ... and the drive I have to succeed, anything is possible.” Ferdinand retired from soccer in 2015 after a season at Queens Park Rangers, who he joined following 12 trophy-filled years at United.
CYCLING
Beaumont sets world record
A British endurance cyclist has smashed the Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the planet on a bicycle, riding 29,000km in less than 80 days. Mark Beaumont cycled for 18 hours per day and burned more than 9,000 calories every 24 hours as he crossed Poland, Russia, Mongolia, China, Australia and the US. A crash in Russia on the ninth day, in which he broke a tooth and injured his elbow, nearly ended a ride that he said had taken him to a “mental depth” he had never before experienced. “It’s just the sleep deprivation. It’s after weeks and weeks and weeks, it’s just the long, long hours you spend in your head, you know, really battling,” he said. He completed the ride in 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes. The record was previously held by New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson, who in 2015 managed the feat in 123 days. A Guinness World Record adjudicator handed the cyclist two world record certificates — one for the round-the-world record, the other for the furthest distance cycled in a single month.
MOTORCYCLING
Rossi returns to training
Italian motorcycling ace Valentino Rossi has returned to training just 18 days after suffering a double leg fracture, his Movistar Yamaha team confirmed. Rossi underwent surgery in Ancona, Italy, on Sept. 1, a day after a crash in training, discharging himself from the hospital the following day. The 38-year-old on Monday rode his first couple of laps around the Misano circuit before the session was cut short by rain, his team said. Rossi missed the San Marino Grand Prix, but remains fourth in the standings, 42 points behind world champion Marc Marquez of Spain and Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso, with five rounds to go.
TENNIS
Blake to testify over arrest
Former professional tennis star James Blake’s mistaken arrest in New York City has become the subject of a disciplinary trial for the arresting officer, who is accused of using excessive force. Blake is expected to testify about the 2015 arrest at a proceeding starting yesterday. His arrest stirred controversy after a security video showed the officer slamming him down and handcuffing him outside a Manhattan hotel. Officer James Frascatore this year rejected an offer to resolve police department internal charges forfeiting vacation days. A police administrative judge is to hear the case and recommend a potentially more severe punishment, including dismissal. Frascatore denies any wrongdoing.
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