ATHLETICS
AIU suspends Daniel Wanjiru
Kenyan Daniel Wanjiru, the winner of the 2017 London Marathon, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). The AIU on Tuesday said on its Web site that a charge had been issued against Wanjiru for “use of a prohibited substance/method.” Under anti-doping rules, the 27-year-old cannot participate in any competition until a hearing has taken place into the allegation. Wanjiru won the 2016 Amsterdam Marathon, and has finished eighth and 11th in the past two London marathons. Last year, Kenyans Asbel Kiprop, Cyrus Rutto and Abraham Kiptum were all given four-year bans, while Vincent Kipsegechi Yator received the same ban earlier this month. Wilson Kipsang, a former marathon world record holder and bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, was provisionally suspended in January for whereabouts failures and tampering with samples. Kipsang’s management company denied the case involved the use of doping and tampering with the doping test.
SOCCER
Yu fired over license plate
Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande dismissed Yu Hanchao and the international winger faces 15 days in police custody after he was spotted altering the license plate on his Mercedes 4x4. Guangzhou, who are managed by Italian FIFA World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro, said that the 33-year-old had “severely violated” the club’s strict disciplinary code. Police in the southern city fined Yu 5,000 yuan (US$708), added 12 points to his license and are to hold him for 15 days in “administrative detention.” Footage on Tuesday emerged of the 59-capped Yu, who has scored nine goals for China, appearing to change a letter “E” on his license plate to “F” for reasons that were not immediately clear. “Guangzhou traffic police found an illegal traffic safety act of using a modified vehicle number plate,” police officials said in a statement on a microblog. “After investigation and evidence collection by Guangzhou traffic police, the perpetrator surnamed Yu admitted the illegal facts.” Yu has won the Chinese Super League five times with Guangzhou and lifted the Asian Football Confederation Champions League trophy.
SWIMMING
Group sorry for ‘zoom-bomb’
Scottish Swimming has apologized to its community after an online training session with its elite athletes was crashed by a “zoombomber,” who subjected about 300 participants to “disturbing content” on Tuesday. The event was hosted on video conferencing application Zoom, which has faced a backlash from users worried about the lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions and “zoombombing” — uninvited guests gaining entry and disrupting proceedings. “At the end of last week we shared information about the workout across social media platforms, asking those interested in participating to log into a link that was shared publicly this morning,” Scottish Swimming said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the link was ‘zoombombed’ with disturbing content shared with circa 300 people that had signed in to the event... At a time when the aquatics community was pulling together and supporting one another so positively, it’s upsetting to have a minority cause upset and distress during the lockdown.”
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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