■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.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
In April last year, Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying finally opened up about her future in the sport in which she had competed professionally since 2009. “My plan is to retire after the end of next year’s season. Even if I’m still able to compete, I would prefer not to,” she said at a promotional event. If true, the Paris Olympics would be her last stab at an Olympic gold medal, a prize some might think a player who has topped the rankings in women’s singles for a record total of 214 weeks — between December 2016 and September 2022 — should
POLYNESIAN FOCUS: The separate opening event welcomed visitors with Tahitian dancing, while athletes participated in rituals to mark the occasion Tahitian dancers in palm-leaf skirts mingled with Olympic surfers, locals and tourists as the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games commenced in French Polynesia on Friday, about 16,000km from the main ceremony in Paris. “The people of Tahiti, we are all enchanted to have these Olympics Games here and to welcome all our friends from all over the world,” French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson told reporters. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us. All the world is looking at us for this mighty wave.” Just steps from the ocean and set against the lush green mountains of Tahiti, the event was heavily
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the