■TENNIS
Peer wins Guangzhou title
Israel’s Shahar Peer won her first WTA singles title in three years yesterday, overcoming Italy’s Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-4 to claim the Guangzhou Open. Ranked 57 in the world, the 22-year-old, whose claim to fame this year was being denied a visa to compete in the Dubai Open, made her move in the sixth game, breaking Brianti to lead 4-2. She then held serve and took the first set 6-3. The fifth seed kept her momentum going in the second set, exploiting some inconsistent serving by the Italian to grab an early break. She didn’t look back, racing to the title in 88 minutes. Eighth seed Brianti, 29, was playing in her first ever Tour final.
■ATHLETICS
Runner ‘forced to drink blood’
A former track athlete at Central Connecticut State University has sued the school, saying a coach forced him to drink blood as a kind of “tribal ritual.” The lawsuit filed this week by Kenyan Charles Ngetich claims that in 2005, track coach George Kawecki told Ngetich he’d seen a documentary in which a Kenyan group drank blood, and he wanted Ngetich to drink it. Ngetich refused, but claims Kawecki later gave him a cup of blood and demanded he drink it, which Ngetich did. Ngetich claims the incident was the start of mocking from his coach and teammates about his heritage. He claims resulting depression affected his performance, and he lost his scholarship. He is seeking damages of at least US$15,000.
■BOXING
Autopsy finds Gatti hanged
A second autopsy in Canada on Arturo Gatti found that the fighter died by hanging, not strangling, the daily La Presse reported on Saturday. Gatti, a former world champion, was found dead on July 11 in an apartment he was renting with his family in the Brazilian city of Recife. He was 37. Police initially arrested his Brazilian wife, Amanda Rodrigues, on suspicion of strangling him with her handbag strap as he slept following a drunken row. Rodrigues maintained her innocence, and was released when a judge ruled that Gatti likely committed suicide. But Gatti’s relatives claimed there was a coverup, and shipped his remains to Montreal last month for a second autopsy. According to the new postmortem examination, there were no injuries showing one or more other people could have hung the boxer, La Presse reported, without citing sources. There was no sign that Gatti was tied up or beaten, although investigators did not rule out the possibility that the boxer could have been drugged and then hung — “a difficult but not impossible operation,” La Presse said. Toxicologists found in Gatti’s body a substance that causes drowsiness that is sold in Brazil but not in Canada. Canadian specialists still need to contact their Brazilian counterparts to determine whether the amount of the product Gatti had taken was powerful enough to put him to sleep, the paper reported. Gatti, born in Italy but a naturalized Canadian citizen, had lived in the US with his wife and son.
■FOOTBALL
USC suffer surprise loss
The University of Southern California was beaten 16-13 by unranked upstart Washington in college football on Saturday, beaten by a late drive that must have looked familiar to the No. 3-ranked Trojans. Erik Folk kicked a 22-yard field goal with three seconds remaining and Washington’s fired-up defense stymied USC’s fill-in quarterback Aaron Corp. Regular USC quarterback Matt Barkley, who directed an epic game-winning drive to beat Ohio State last week, was out with a sore shoulder.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
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