BASEBALL
Ex-players cited in drug ring
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and cited ex-infielder Luis Castillo for their alleged links to a drug-trafficking and money-laundering ring, officials said on Tuesday. Dominican Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez said that police are also pursuing the alleged leader of the ring, Cesar Emilio Peralta, also known as “Cesar the Abuser.” Castillo has not yet been arrested. Peralta created a complicated system of companies to hide the origins of his assets, using members of his family and social circles, “including two sports figures in the Dominican Republic,” Rodriguez said. Castillo on Instagram denied any ties to drugs. “The truth is my country no longer works, my God, do you think that after making millions of dollars in Baseball I am going to dirty my hands with drugs?” he wrote.
SOCCER
St Louis chosen for team
The MLS on Tuesday confirmed that St Louis has been awarded an expansion franchise that would boost North America’s top soccer league to 28 teams. Commissioner Don Garber made the announcement alongside the club’s ownership group, including Carolyn Kindle Betz, the Taylor family and Jim Kavanaugh. With Betz and six other female members of the Taylor family part of the group, St Louis is to be the first female majority-owned club in MLS history and one of few in professional sports. The club would begin MLS play in 2022 in a new stadium.
RUGBY UNION
‘Women’s’ dropped from Cup
World Rugby yesterday announced that it is adopting a policy of gender neutrality for their tournaments. In what it said is “a first for a major sporting federation” the 2021 edition of the World Cup in New Zealand would be known simply as Rugby World Cup 2021, with “Women’s” dropped from the title. This would also be applied to their Sevens World Cup competitions. The men’s tournaments have never specified gender. “World Rugby has announced that its flagship 15s and sevens Rugby World Cup properties will no longer include gender in their titles, furthering its commitment to equality and brand consistency across its portfolio,” it said in a statement.
SWIMMING
Sun appeal to be public
A case in which China’s multiple world and Olympic champion Sun Yang is accused of anti-doping violations is to be held in public in a break from usual procedure, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement on Tuesday. The World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed against a decision by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) to clear Sun of wrongdoing during a random drug test in September last year. The court said that it would be only the second case in its history to be held in public — the previous in 1999 also involved FINA.
ICE HOCKEY
Players begin boycott
Female players in Sweden are to go ahead with their boycott of an international tournament in Finland in protest against poor pay and working conditions. Sweden were to play their first game of the Five Nations Tournament yesterday against Japan, but the squad of 43 players were to be absent.
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