TENNIS
Brazil’s Bellucci banned
Brazilian tennis player Thomaz Bellucci said he has been given a five-month suspension for doping. The 30-year-old Bellucci, who reached a career high of 21 in the rankings in 2010, said in a statement on Thursday that a sample he provided in July last year at the Swedish Open at Bastad tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide, which can mask other substances. Bellucci said the positive test was the result of a contaminated vitamin supplement. “I could never imagine that a multivitamin made by a pharmacy could suffer crossed contamination in minimal amounts. I always took care and respected the rules,” he said.
TENNIS
ASB set for Sunday finish
The Auckland ASB Classic is to be extended by one day with the final now scheduled to be played tomorrow after persistent rain washed out play for a second consecutive day yesterday. Heavy rain prevented an entire day’s play on Thursday, with similar weather conditions 24 hours later forcing all singles matches to be postponed once more. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are to be played today, with the final taking place tomorrow. Czech third seed Barbora Strycova is to play Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei in the first quarter-final.
FIGURE SKATING
Chen wins short program
Nathan Chen on Thursday night made it look easy on the ice and in the standings, running away with the short program at the US Figure Skating Championships. The defending champion and America’s best hope for an Olympic gold medal next month at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, the 18-year-old Chen spun his usual quad magic, hitting two of the four-rotation jumps, one in competition. His energy lit up the SAP Center in San Jose, California, and although his triple axel was funky, Chen earned 104.45 points. That is territory none of his countrymen can reach. Coming closest was veteran Adam Rippon, who had a career-best 96.52. Jason Brown, a 2014 team bronze medalist at the Sochi Olympics in Russia, was third heading to today’s free skate.
GOLF
Tiger to play in San Diego
Former world No. 1 Tiger Woods is to make his much-anticipated debut this year at this month’s Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, his first official PGA Tour event since missing the cut at the same tournament last year. Woods, who returned to competition last month in an 18-man exhibition after a near 10-month layoff during which he had spinal fusion surgery, is also to play the Feb. 15 to Feb. 18 Genesis Open at Riviera, Los Angeles, which is run by the Tiger Woods Foundation. “I’m very excited to be back at Riviera,” Woods, 42, said in a statement on his Web site on Thursday. “I haven’t played at Riviera in a tournament in a very long time. To be able to play in an event that I used to come to as an amateur, as a junior and now as the tournament host, that is on one of the most historic sites in all of golf, it’s a dream come true.” The American 14-times major champion swung freely and with no sign of back pain at last month’s Hero World Challenge, where he began his latest comeback and finished tied for ninth in a field including eight of the world’s top 10 golfers.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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