BOXING
Tyson Fury free to fight
Britain’s former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury is free to resume his boxing career after a compromise on his positive test for a banned steroid was found with UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), it was announced on Tuesday. “In recognition of the respective counterarguments and the risks inherent in the dispute resolution process, each side has accepted a compromise of its position,” a UKAD statement said. UKAD back-dated Fury’s two-year ban to Dec. 13, 2015. The 29-year-old has not fought since his shock defeat of Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles in November 2015.
RUGBY UNION
Australia bid for World Cup
Australia is to bid to host the 2021 women’s and 2027 men’s World Cups, Rugby Australia said yesterday, building on government plans to construct new stadiums in Sydney. Australia successfully hosted the men’s edition in 1987 and cohosted the 2003 event with New Zealand, but has never staged a women’s World Cup. “The World Cup is the pinnacle for our Wallabies and Wallaroos teams, and we want to bring those tournaments home for any player who has ever dreamed of lifting the Cup here on our home soil,” Rugby Australia chairman Cameron Clyne said. He said given Australia’s track record in hosting major events such as the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, Rugby Australia was “supremely confident of delivering a tournament like no other in 2021.”
GYMNASTICS
Coach permanently banned
USA Gymnastics has banned a highly decorated coach, after an investigation found he had violated sexual misconduct rules, the sport’s governing body confirmed on Tuesday. The revelation of coach Todd Gardiner’s banishment from the sport came as the gymnastics world was still reeling from the athlete sexual abuse scandal that sent disgraced former doctor Lawrence “Larry” Nassar to prison for at least 60 years. As Nassar was sentenced on Thursday last week, the governing body for US competitive gymnastics, which sends a team to the Olympics, permanently banned Gardiner — founder of a training facility outside of Chicago. “An individual is placed on the [permanent ban] list based on a complaint and following an investigation and hearing process,” the organization said in a statement, adding that Gardiner was found in violation of rules dealing with sexual misconduct and sexual relations with an athlete.
WINTER OLYMPICS
Russian team disqualified
Six Russian ice hockey players have been disqualified from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics for doping, meaning their country has also been removed from official results. Inna Dyubanok, Ekaterina Lebedeva, Ekaterina Pashkevich, Anna Shibanova, Ekaterina Smolentseva and Galina Skiba were found to have committed doping violations by the International Olympic Committee following reanalysis of samples taken at the Sochi Games. Proceedings against a seventh, unnamed, player were terminated and filed without her being found to have committed an anti-doping offense. The six players have been “disqualified from the events in which they participated,” the committee said, while banning them from any future Olympics.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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