CRICKET
Stokes blasts tragedy report
England’s Ben Stokes on Tuesday described a front-page article in that day’s Sun about a family tragedy 31 years ago as “disgusting” and “immoral.” In a statement on Twitter, Stokes said that the newspaper’s decision to publish the story would have “grave and lifelong consequences” for his mother in particular. He claimed that the story contained a number of serious inaccuracies. “It is hard to find words that adequately describe such low and despicable behavior, disguised as journalism,” he wrote. Stokes said that a reporter had turned up at his parents’ home in New Zealand “out of the blue” to ask them about the tragedy. A spokeswoman for the paper said: “The Sun has the utmost sympathy for Ben Stokes and his mother, but it is only right to point out the story was told with the cooperation of a family member who supplied details, provided photographs and posed for pictures. The tragedy is also a matter of public record and was the subject of extensive front-page publicity in New Zealand at the time.”
FOOTBALL
Fart allegation clouds Brown
A former doctor for New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown said that the NFL star repeatedly farted in his face and laughed about it during an appointment where he turned up three hours late and never paid US$11,500 in fees. Victor Prisk said he admitted Brown for an initial consultation despite his “flighty” reputation during a nine-year stint with the Steelers and has since filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for the unpaid bill, according to an SI.com investigation published on Monday. TMZ obtained footage of the visit in August last year where Brown could been seen laughing while passing gas as Prisk tests his body fat. The SI.com report comes one week after a civil complaint filed in US district court for the southern district of Florida alleging Brown sexually assaulted Britney Taylor, a gymnast he met at Central Michigan University.
WEIGHTLIFTING
Egypt banned from Worlds
Egypt has been banned from participating in the World Championships for doping offenses, state media said on Tuesday, as the Egyptian Olympic Committee fears the suspension could extend to next year’s Tokyo Games. A number of Egyptian weightlifters were included in the entry list for the Worlds, which began in Thailand yesterday, but all of them were missing from the competition’s start book. “We have not received any official letter regarding this case,” committee secretary-general Sherif el-Erian told al-Ahram. “Once we receive an official letter regarding the ban, we will do our best to solve the crisis.”
OLYMPICS
Panda to be 2022 mascot
China has chosen the panda to be the official mascot of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the Winter Games organizing committee announced on Tuesday. The mascot, named “Bing Dwen Dwen,” is a chubby giant panda wearing a suit of ice. The animal has a “heart of gold and a love of all things winter sports,” tweeted the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. For the Paralympic Games, the mascot is a blushing red lantern named “Shuey Rhon Rhon.”
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