MMA
McGregor sued over phone
Conor McGregor is facing a civil lawsuit after being charged in South Florida with stealing the cellphone of someone who was trying to take his photograph. Miami-Dade County court records show that 22-year-old Ahmed Abdirzak on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking more than US$15,000, accusing McGregor of battery, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Miami Beach police said that McGregor was leaving a hotel early on Monday when Abdirzak attempted to take a photograph of him. McGregor slapped the phone out of Abdirzak’s hand and then stomped on it several times, then grabbed the phone and left the area, police said. McGregor was later arrested on robbery and criminal mischief charges.
HORSE RACING
Fatalities prompt changes
Santa Anita Park said it would ban the use of drugs and whips during competitions after a horse was euthanized on Thursday following an injury during a training run, the 22nd fatality at the Southern California track since Christmas. The restrictions would be the first of their kind in the US and came on the day that federal legislation was reintroduced that would ban race-day medication and increase out-of-competition testing nationwide. Earlier this month, Santa Anita canceled racing after the 21st fatality and brought in a surface expert to determine what had caused the spike in deaths. The track reopened less than a week later.
CRICKET
Sreesanth life ban lifted
India’s Supreme Court yesterday scrapped Shanthakumaran Sreesanth’s life ban for match-fixing, but stopped short of acquitting the paceman. The court said that Sreesanth’s case had been badly handled and gave the Board of Control for Cricket in India three months to reconsider his punishment. Sreesanth was arrested for illegal betting and spot-fixing during the 2013 Indian Premier League along with teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila. “The court has given me a huge lifeline and I am happy with the opportunity given to me,” Sreesanth said. Sreesanth’s lawyer argued that no evidence had been found to prove that he underperformed in return for cash from bookmakers. “The team [Rajasthan Royals] and its owners were banned for two years only. It is completely unfair that a life ban was imposed on him [Sreesanth],” his lawyer was quoted as saying by local media.
SWIMMING
Japan’s hope ‘lacks hunger’
Olympic champion Kosuke Hagino yesterday said he has pulled out of next month’s Japanese championships, blaming a lack of hunger and triggering concerns about his appetite for Tokyo 2020. The 24-year-old was Japan’s best hope for a swimming gold next year alongside six-time Asian Games gold medalist Rikako Ikee, 18, who was diagnosed with leukemia last month. “I’ve been unable to achieve the results I had hoped for since the 2017 season,” Hagino said in a statement. “As the gap between my targets and reality has widened, it has become harder for me to maintain my motivation.” The former Asian champion has struggled with form since capturing gold in the men’s 400m individual medley at the 2016 Rio 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
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