ATHLETICS
Handover a ‘logistics’ issue
There is an “understanding” on how crucial data on drug use by Russian athletes is to be handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), whose representatives arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said. WADA officials are making their third visit to retrieve the Moscow laboratory data, which could help the agency file doping charges against numerous Russian athletes it believes doped in previous years. Russia missed a deadline to hand over the data by Dec. 31, meaning the Russian Anti-Doping Agency could face sanctions from WADA. “There were some working disagreements, which arose last time, related to which storage devices [the data] will be transferred onto and how, and so on. I would say these are not so much substantial matters as issues of logistics,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. “As far as we know via our sports authorities, there are intensive contacts under way and now understanding has been reached with the WADA representatives regarding how the work will continue.” WADA spokesman James Fitzgerald said that the three-person team had arrived in the Russian capital. “They look forward to starting their work tomorrow,” Fitzgerald told reporters by e-mail. WADA estimates that the team will stay three days, Fitzgerald said, but “it could be longer, could be shorter.”
CYCLING
Grove ‘over’ loss of record
A 90-year-old cyclist who was stripped of his world record after a failed drug test has questioned the wisdom of the US Anti-Doping Agency’s decision. The agency has admitted that Carl Grove’s failed test was probably due to his inadvertent consumption of contaminated meat, but said that it still had to issue him with a public warning, the least serious punishment available. Grove this week told reporters that he believes taxpayers’ money would be better spent on catching more serious offenders. “Us old guys are kind of like peanuts. I think that they’re wasting their time,” he said. “I think that somewhere there ought to be a cutoff and they ought to zero in on the stuff that is done for money reasons or whatever it may be. But I think after 65 or 70, you know, they ought to just give up.” Grove tested positive for epitrenbolone, a metabolite of banned substance trenbolone, at last year’s US Masters Track National Championships, where he won the 90 to 94 age group sprint title. The former US Navy Band saxophonist, who played for US presidents during his time in the armed forces, said that the decision had initially hurt him. “I was really kind of down for a while, but I’m over it,” Grove said. Grove said that he is determined to continue his cycling career. His next goal is the world record for the distance ridden in an hour in the 90 to 95 age bracket. Grove is to turn 91 on July 13.
TENNIS
Jason Jung falls in qualifiers
Taiwan’s Jason Jung yesterday crashed out of the Australian Open, which starts on Monday. In the second qualifying round for the men’s singles, world No. 120 Jung lost 2-6, 3-6 to world No. 185 Hiroki Moriya of Japan. Moriya broke Jung three times at the start of the match and ran away with the first set 6-1. In the second set, Jung managed to draw level at 3-3 in a seesaw battle, but eventually lost, ending his chance to advance in the tournament.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Teenage gymnast Shoko Miyata has been pulled from Japan’s team for the Paris Olympics after being caught smoking and drinking, officials said yesterday. The 19-year-old, a world bronze medalist and captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team for the Games, was sent home from their training camp in Monaco and admitted she had violated the squad’s code of conduct. “With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) secretary-general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura said the association had been told that Miyata was seen smoking in a
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super