ATHLETICS
WADA revokes lab’s license
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Friday revoked a Moscow laboratory’s license to test samples, it said on Saturday, in a new twist in the long-running Russian doping saga. WADA’s executive committee voted to strip the Moscow facility of its approved status, citing “the laboratory personnel’s manipulation of data,” which was extracted from the lab in 2019. At the time, the data was located on servers and equipment at the laboratory which were sealed off by Russian law enforcement. WADA wanted to use the data to prosecute cases which were covered up in the past, but said later that year that entries for many cases had been tampered with, and fake messages were added to implicate witnesses. Russian authorities have denied the data stored at the lab was deliberately altered.
GOLF
Kevin Yu slips in Vegas
Taiwan’s Kevin Yu on Saturday slipped 14 places to tie for 31st after firing a one-under-par 70 in the third round of the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas. The 23-year-old shot birdies on the second and 13th holes, with a bogey on the 11th, to leave him with a nine-under-par 204. American Adam Schenk was leading with an 18-under 195, putting him within reach of his first US PGA Tour victory. At the LPGA’s Cognizant Founders Cup in West Caldwell, New Jersey, Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling shot a par 71 in the third round with an impressive six birdies marred by four bogeys and a double-bogey. She was tied for 23rd place with a four-under-par 209.
CRICKET
Women need IPL: captain
India’s Twenty20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday called for a women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) competition after India lost a close Twenty20 International contest to Australia at the Carrara Oval. Harmanpreet credited the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the domestic T20 competition in Australia, for the national team’s success, and alluded to the growth of the Indian men’s side thanks to the IPL. “If you look at the way Tahlia McGrath batted today, we can see the confidence they are getting from a tournament like WBBL... She has not played much in international cricket, but got to play many matches before playing for Australia,” Harmanpreet said. “Ever since [the men’s team] got a platform like the IPL, young male talents competing at the international level show maturity in their performance... I think that is the only reason we are lacking right now. If we get the opportunity to play domestic cricket at a good level before playing such international games, we will definitely improve as a team.”
BASKETBALL
Taurasi races home for birth
Diana Taurasi early on Saturday made it back home from her WNBA semi-final game in time to see her wife, Penny Taylor, give birth to a girl — the couple’s second child. Taurasi flew back to Phoenix from Las Vegas immediately after helping the Phoenix Mercury beat the Las Vegas Aces on Friday. She had 14 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter of the 87-84. The league’s all-time leading scorer playfully said in a post-game interview to Taylor to “hold it in, babe.” Taurasi had a plane waiting for her for the short flight and then took a car straight to the hospital to see the birth at 4:24am local time.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
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