■BASEBALL
MLB pushes drug testing
Major League Baseball (MLB) is instituting a comprehensive registration and drug testing program for unsigned prospects in the Dominican Republic. The program went into effect on Friday and targets prospects eligible to sign professional contracts after July 1. The initiative also involves a series of workshops designed to educate unsigned players about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs. MLB said in a statement that the moves would help to reduce identity and age falsification and the use of prohibited substances. Long-time MLB executive Sandy Alderson was hired in March to help reform baseball in the Dominican Republic.
■FOOTBALL/HOCKEY
Teams make flood donations
The owner of the Tennessee Titans has joined the NFL and the NFL Players Association in donating US$400,000 to help those affected by floods that killed at least 18 people in the state. Titans owner Bud Adams decided to donate US$200,000 from his Titans Foundation and encouraged the league and the players union to match his gift. The money will be divided between the American Red Cross and the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, which also runs the Metro Nashville Disaster Relief Fund and the Tennessee Emergency Relief Fund. Nashville’s National Hockey League team, the Predators, and the NHL, have also contributed to flood relief, along with all 24 players on the Predators’ roster. The Predators shut down on Friday so employees could help with the clean up. Adams also said that Titans players and staff will be in Nashville next week to help with recovery efforts.
■ATHLETICS
Runner tests positive
An unidentified Jamaican athlete who was part of a team that won two medals at a recent international meet tested positive for a banned substance, according to a Jamaican newspaper report. The athlete has requested that the B sample be tested, the Jamaica Observer reported, citing unnamed sources. The athlete was part of a team that won gold in the women’s 60m and bronze in the women’s 4x400 relay at the March meet in Qatar. Howard Aris, president of Jamaica’s track and field federation, told reporters on Friday that he had no information. Last year, four Jamaican runners admitted to using a banned stimulant before Jamaica’s National Championships. Yohan Blake, Lansford Spence, Marvin Anderson and Allodin Fothergill were suspended for three months.
■BASKETBALL
Arenas leaves halfway house
Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas on Friday returned from the work-release halfway house where he lived for almost a month as part of his sentence for bringing guns to the NBA team’s locker room. Arenas departed the halfway house in Maryland, in the suburbs of Washington DC, and arrived at his Virginia home later in the morning. His sentence also included two years of probation, a US$5,000 fine and 400 hours of community service that cannot be performed at basketball clinics. Arenas pleaded guilty to felony gun possession in January and was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house in March. He started his sentence on April 9 and was allowed to leave a couple of days early because the Federal Bureau of Prisons doesn’t release offenders from halfway houses on weekends. Prosecutors had recommended that Arenas be sentenced to at least three months in jail, but judge Robert Morin opted instead for the halfway house.
■SOCCER
Player admits matchfixing
A former player in Hong Kong’s top-flight has pleaded guilty to offering a bribe to an opponent to fix a match last year, local media reported. Yu Yang, 27, who played for Happy Valley in the former British colony’s First Division, told a Hong Kong court he had offered a bribe to a Fourway Rangers player to influence the result of the teams’ match in October last year. The player refused the offer and the Rangers won the match 2-0. Yang was one of five footballers arrested after the Rangers reported the incident to Hong Kong football authorities. The four other players had been released on bail. Yang’s case has been adjourned for sentencing until later this month. The case follows a series of match-fixing scandals in neighboring China that unfolded after officials demanded a clean-up of the game last year.
■ATHLETICS
Champions to miss meet
World champions Kenenisa Bekele and Sanya Richards-Ross will miss the Diamond League’s opening meeting in Doha on Friday because of injuries, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said on Friday. Bekele, an Olympic champion and world record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m, has been nursing a calf injury. The Ethiopian had been scheduled to run the 5,000m event in Doha. American Richards-Ross, the world 400m champion, has been slowed by a quadriceps injury. Both runners are expected to make a full recovery and return to competition soon, the IAAF said in a release.
■CHESS
Champion, challenger draw
India’s defending chess champion Viswanathan Anand and his Bulgarian challenger Veselin Topalov drew in the 10th round of their 12-game match for the world chess title in Sofia on Friday. The draw was agreed on the 60th move, allowing the two to keep even with a total result of 5-5 points. The next game is scheduled for today. Anand, known as the “Tiger from Madras,” and Topalov have two wins each, while six games have ended in a draw. The first player to score 6.5 points or more after the 12 games will be declared the new world champion. If the scores are level after 12 games, the two will play four tie-break games of rapid chess, where each player has a total of 25 minutes to make his moves. If the scores are still even after that, the new world champion will be decided in five five-minute blitz chess matches of two games each, ultimately followed by one sudden-death game. The 40-year-old Anand first became world champion in 2007 and successfully defended his title in 2008. Topalov, 35, won the right to challenge him by beating Gata Kamsky of the US in the semi-final in February last year. The new world chess champion will win a prize of 1.2 million euros (US$1.58 million), while the loser will take home 800,000 euros.
■BOXING
Khan granted visa to US
Junior welterweight champion Amir Khan has been granted a visa and will be allowed to fight in the US for the first time against Paulie Malignaggi on May 15. Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions said on Friday that he received an e-mail notifying him that Khan’s visa application had been approved. WBA champion Khan is from Britain, of Pakistani descent. The Khan-Malignaggi bout headlines a card from the smaller theater at Madison Square Garden. Victor Ortiz and Nate Campbell are scheduled to fight on the undercard, along with Breidis Prescott, the only person to beat Khan in 23 fights.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
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