SOCCER
Anger over fan sex rules
A ban on unaccompanied women attending the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia sparked a furious reaction on Thursday, as the restrictions were revealed. The cup is to be played between Juventus and AC Milan on Jan. 16 in Riyadh, but women are only able to buy tickets for the “family” seats, while men can sit alone, Serie A said on Wednesday. Serie A president Gaetano Micciche said that the presence of women in the stadium alone would be a “historic first,” adding: “This will go down in the history of our Super Cup as the first international competition which Saudi Arabian women can watch in the stadium.”
BASKETBALL
Grizzlies fight after loss
Memphis Grizzlies players Omri Casspi and Garrett Temple had to be separated during a post-game meeting that turned physical following Wednesday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Athletic and ESPN reported. Memphis coach J.B. Bickerstaff called a closed-door meeting with players and coaches following the Grizzlies’ third straight loss, during which Casspi and Temple had a physical altercation, according to the reports. The Athletic reported that Casspi took umbrage with criticism that the bench unit was not playing with enthusiasm. General manager Chris Wallace issued an apology on Thursday. “When losing happens, obviously emotions get frayed and we’re very passionate and competitive people in this game,” Wallace said. “Some things were said and some things happened,” Temple added. “At the end of the day we’re brothers.” The loss was the 10th for Memphis in their past 13 games.
DOPING
Law firm to probe bullying
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Thursday said it has hired a law firm to carry out an independent investigation into allegations of bullying and harassment by senior executives in the organization. Law firm Covington & Burling would probe conduct by members of the agency’s Executive Committee during a meeting in the Seychelles in September last year, it said in a statement. The meeting led to the resignation of Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott from WADA’s Compliance Review Committee. “There was laughter when I read the list of athlete committees who had produced statements and who were confronting the [Russia reinstatement] decision,” Scott told the BBC in an interview. Scott said neither WADA’s president nor director-general had challenged officials who made “gestures that were inappropriate.” Investigators would be asked to conduct interviews of all relevant parties and to deliver “unbiased and independent findings” to the Executive Committee.
CRICKET
India coasting to victory
A marathon century by Cheteshwar Pujara and a swashbuckling ton from Rishabh Pant yesterday all but ended Australia’s hopes of saving the series as India built a massive 622-7 declared in the final Sydney Test. India began the second day at 303-4 and proceeded to twist the knife against a demoralized home team that toiled in hot conditions. Despite the tall task ahead, Australia skipper Tim Paine said they were not ready to throw in the towel. “We certainly won’t be doing that; we will be fighting as hard as we can for the next three days,” he said.
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