CRICKET
Broad reacts to sanction
England quick Stuart Broad says that his father, match referee Chris Broad, is off his Christmas card list after he fined him for giving Pakistan’s Yasir Shah a send-off in the first Test. The bowler was fined 15 percent of his match fee and given a demerit point for his behavior on Saturday last week as England went on to clinch the series opener in Manchester by three wickets. After England’s Barmy Army supporters group tweeted the news of his sanction on Tuesday, Broad said of his father: “He’s off the Christmas card & present list.” Chris Broad would not normally officiate in a match involving his son, but he is overseeing all six of England’s home Tests this summer because of travel restrictions imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. It was the bowlers’ third demerit point in the past 24 months. Another demerit point picked up in the second Test, which begins in Southampton today, would trigger a one-Test suspension.
CRICKET
Dhoni expected to continue
Indian Premier League favorites the Chennai Super Kings expect former India captain M.S. Dhoni to keep playing past his 40th birthday until at least 2022, the team’s chief executive said on Tuesday. Dhoni has not played a competitive game since India’s World Cup semi-final defeat against New Zealand last year, but is due to return to action when the delayed IPL begins in the United Arab Emirates next month. While Dhoni is unlikely to play again for India, Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Viswanathan said he was confident that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman would not retiring soon. “We don’t worry about him at all. Yes, we can expect M.S. Dhoni to be part of both [IPL seasons this year and next year] and probably for even the next year, 2022,” Viswanathan told India Today television. Dhoni, who has led Chennai to three IPL titles, will celebrate his 40th birthday in July next year. He remains an influential figure in Indian cricket with any hint of retirement causing concern among fans. Viswanathan said he had only seen media reports that Dhoni has been training in indoor nets in his home state of Jharkand. “We don’t have to worry about the skipper,” he said. “He knows his responsibilities and he will take care of himself and the team.” The team are due to arrive in Chennai this week before leaving next week for Dubai where the IPL is to start on Sept. 19 after being moved because of the pandemic.
CYCLING
Fabio Jakobsen to be moved
Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen’s condition is “evolving favorably” after his crash at the Tour of Poland and he would be moved back to the Netherlands for further treatment, his Deceuninck-Quick Step team said on Tuesday. The 23-year-old was put in a medically induced coma and underwent facial surgery after crashing at the finish line in the first stage of the race. “Jakobsen’s condition is evolving favorably, to the extent that he will be transferred Wednesday to the hospital in Leiden, the Netherlands, where further follow-up treatment will take place,” the team said in a statement. Jakobsen had been jostling into position with competitor Dylan Groenewegen when the pair collided and Jakobsen crashed into the barriers, hitting a race official. The sport’s governing body condemned Groenewegen’s “dangerous behavior” and disqualified him from the race.
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