■TENNIS
Mario Ancic withdraws
Mario Ancic of Croatia withdrew from the Beijing Olympics yesterday, and Canadian players Frank Dancevic and Frederic Niemeyer were both added to the men’s draw. Niemeyer replaced the 25th-ranked Ancic, while Dancevic replaced Denis Gremelmayr of Germany. Rainer Schuettler of Germany, who got his spot in Beijing by winning an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, replaced Dudi Sela of Israel in the draw. Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who withdrew last week, was replaced by Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic. The Olympic tennis tournament starts Sunday, two days after the opening ceremony, and will finish Aug. 17.
■WEIGHTLIFTING
India drops weightlifter
Monica Devi, India’s lone competitor for weightlifting in the Beijing Olympics, dismissed charges of doping against her and said she was innocent at a press briefing yesterday. Devi was withdrawn from the Indian squad hours before she was to board the flight to Beijing on Tuesday night after she tested positive for an anabolic steroid, the Indian Express newspaper reported, quoting unnamed sources. The test was conducted on June 28. In the pre-Olympic trial conducted by the Indian Weightlifting Federation last month, P Shailaja performed better than Devi, but Devi was chosen because she had won a silver and two bronze at the Asian Championships in Japan this year.
■SOCCER
Dunga: Brazil needs to win
Dunga knows there won’t be many excuses if Brazil fails to win the Olympic gold again. He admits anything but the title will be considered a disappointment, and that it’s time Brazil comes through to clinch the only significant tournament it is yet to win in soccer. “The pressure to win always exists in the national team,” Dunga said. “We have won the World Cup, the Copa America and other important tournaments, but we are missing the Olympic medal. Everyone here wants to leave their mark and win this tournament, which has eluded several generations of Brazilian players.”
■BASKETBALL
Nowitzki to carry flag
Basketball player Dirk Nowitzki will carry the German flag at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics on Friday. The 30-year-old Dallas Mavericks forward will lead Germany’s basketball team at Beijing, after the team missed out the past two Olympics. The German Olympic Sports Union said yesterday that it chose Nowitzki to be the flag bearer because “he embodies the Olympic idea like hardly anyone else.” “It has for years been a dream for Dirk Nowitzki to be at the Olympics,” senior German Olympic official Michael Vesper said in a statement, adding that Nowitzki offers “a great example for young sportspeople.”
■BOXING
Hopes high for boxing twins
Most 12-year-old boys in Puerto Rico play video games, watch movies or go to the beach for fun. The Arroyo twins were drawn to the boxing ring. McJoe and McWilliams Arroyo, 22, have become among the best fighters in Puerto Rico, and sporting officials expect them to return with medals from the Beijing Olympics starting Friday. Never mind that the twins grew up in the northern coastal towns of Luquillo and Fajardo, which boast of some of the island’s most popular beaches. The ring still held more attraction that the waves and sun. “When we started boxing at 12 years old, it was more like a hobby,” McJoe said.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
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