Sun, Apr 12, 2009 page18

• Sports Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■BASEBALL

  Man charged with murder

  Prosecutors charged a 22-year-old man with three counts of second-degree murder on Friday after a car crash that killed Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others. The 22-year-old Adenhart was a passenger in a car that police said was struck by a minivan driven by Andrew Thomas Gallo early on Thursday. Adenhart had pitched six shutout innings against the Oakland Athletics only hours before the crash. It was only his fourth game in the major leagues. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Gallo was speeding and that he had an excess blood alcohol level almost three times the legal limit when he ran a red light and struck the car carrying Adenhart and three others.

  ■BASEBALL

  Rodriguez back in training

  Alex Rodriguez is to resume baseball activities tomorrow, more than a month after hip surgery. Major League Baseball’s highest-paid player has been working out in Colorado, where he had the operation on March 9. New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi said on Friday that Rodriguez has been swinging a broom for the past few weeks and slowly increasing his workload. Girardi doesn’t expect Rodriguez to return to the Yankees before the middle of next month. “In my mind, I’m still thinking May 15 — five weeks away. That’s my thought process,” Girardi said. Rodriguez will travel to the team’s minor league complex in Tampa, Florida. “We expect him to be there on Monday and doing all baseball stuff, hitting, throwing, running, just continuing his rehab. So far it’s went very well and you just hope there’s no setbacks and he continues to progress.”

  ■CYCLING

  Contador retains lead

  Spain’s Alberto Contador of Astana retained the overall lead of the Tour of the Basque Country after Italian Marco Pinotti of the Columbia team landed Friday’s fifth stage. Pinotti saw off his rivals in the 169km ride from Guenes to Zalla to win in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 56 seconds as he handed his team a second straight win following Swiss Michael Albasini’s on Thursday. Pinotti had 19 seconds in hand as he romped to the line, leaving Briton Ben Swift (Katusha) and Italian Francesco Gavazzo (Lampre) to lead home the peloton in his wake. Contador holds onto his overall lead, 8 seconds ahead of compatriot Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) and Australian Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto).

  ■RUGBY UNION

  Singapore may get games

  Japan is to bid to host the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups with a proposal to play the matches in 10 Japanese cities as well as Singapore and Hong Kong, a report in the Straits Times said yesterday. If Japan wins the bid, Singapore would host five matches, the report said. Japan is to formally submit the proposal to the International Rugby Board on May 13 and it is expected to announce its decision on July 28.

  ■FENCING

  Baldini's appeal rejected

  Italian Andrea Baldini’s appeal against a six-month ban for failing a doping test at last year’s European Championships in Kiev was rejected on Friday. “Andrea Baldini has committed a violation of anti-doping rules and is hence suspended from competition for six months,” the International Fencing Federation said in a statement. Baldini, who at the time of his positive test for banned diuretic furosemide was world No. 1, had been provisionally banned on Sept. 4 and as his ban will run from that date he has been free to compete from March 4.
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