ATHLETICS
Russian appeals doping ban
Russian biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov has appealed a doping ban that saw all of his results from 2010 to 2014 annulled, his lawyer said on Wednesday. The Court of Arbitration of Sport last month suspended Ustyugov, who retired in 2014, after concluding that he had received help in trying to conceal his doping. The biathlete’s lawyer Alexei Panich told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that he did not yet know the date of the hearing. If the verdict stands, 35-year-old Ustyugov would be stripped of the mass start gold medal and relay bronze he won at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Last month’s ban was the second punishment for the retired biathlete this year.
BASEBALL
Cano banned 162 games
New York Mets second baseman Robinson Cano was banned 162 games after testing positive for the banned steroid Stanozolol in a second MLB doping breach, the league said on Wednesday. The suspension without pay would commence at the start of next season and cost him about US$24 million in salary, the MLB said in a statement. Cano was with the Seattle Mariners when he was suspended in 2018 after testing positive for the diuretic furosemide, which can be used as a masking agent for drugs that enhance performance. Cano, 38, was suspended for 80 games in 2018, saying at the time he was prescribed furosemide for a “medical ailment” by a doctor in his native Dominican Republic.
FOOTBALL
NFL steps up protocols
The NFL has stepped up its pandemic protocols with tougher restrictions going into effect on Saturday to try and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on the same day the Las Vegas Raiders found themselves in the midst of another outbreak. The stricter measures, which would last until the end of the season, include forcing players to wear masks during practice sessions, a strict 15-minute time limit per person in the dressing room, and making sure all players and coaches have a negative test from the previous day before being allowed into the club’s facilities. According to the latest test results announced by the league earlier this week, 95 players and 175 team personnel had tested positive through Saturday last week since monitoring began in August.
TENNIS
No prep ‘dangerous’: Soares
Playing the Australian Open with no preparation time would be “very dangerous,” Brazilian doubles specialist Bruno Soares warned on Wednesday, after Australian tennis chiefs flagged “new challenges” around the arrival of players during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ATP has said that arrivals originally planned for next month were now uncertain, potentially disrupting the packed January schedule. With players facing a 14-day quarantine, any delay could make it difficult to hold the ATP Cup and other tournaments before the scheduled start of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Jan. 18. It is also unclear whether players would be allowed to train during quarantine. Soares, playing in the doubles event at the ATP Finals in London this week, said it would be tough to play with no practice. “I think it’s quite dangerous for the players with no preparation I think to go there and compete right away. I think it’s physically very dangerous,” he said.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
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