FOOTBALL
QB accuser drops suit
One of the 23 women who have filed lawsuits accusing Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and harassment has dropped her case, citing privacy and security concerns after some of the women were ordered to make their names public following court hearings last week. In court documents filed late on Tuesday, the woman’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, said that she “reserves the right to refile the case once such concerns are addressed.” Buzbee has said that the women have faced death threats and attacks on social media since accusing Watson, and had wanted them to be allowed to remain anonymous. The women accuse Watson of exposing himself, touching them with his penis or kissing them against their will while he received a massage. At least one woman has alleged Watson forced her to perform oral sex. All of the women are either licensed massage therapists, or worked in a spa or similar business.
SOCCER
Kudela banned 10 games
The UEFA on Wednesday banned Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela for 10 European matches for racially abusing Rangers’ Finnish midfielder Glen Kamara in a Europa League match. Kamara has been suspended for three matches in UEFA club competitions for an “assault” on Kudela that reportedly took place in the tunnel after the match at Ibrox on March 18. Rangers forward Kemar Roofe was also handed a four-match ban for his high challenge that left Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar with a fractured skull in the bad-tempered last-16, second-leg tie. “We welcome the suspension imposed on Ondrej Kudela. This not only vindicates Glen Kamara’s evidence, but underlines the severity of the comment, given the number of games has been imposed by UEFA,” Rangers said in a statement.
CRICKET
Streak blasted after ban
Heath Streak on Wednesday was blasted as “selfish and greedy” after being handed an eight-year ban for corruption in a scandal described as “the darkest day in Zimbabwean cricket.” Former national captain and coach Streak, 47, was found guilty of breaching five rules of the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Code related to betting. He disclosed inside information related to matches in the 2018 Tri-Series involving Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Zimbabwe-Afghanistan series in 2018, the IPL 2018 and the APL 2018. He also “facilitated or attempted to facilitate” the introduction of four players, including a national captain, to a third party for inside information for betting purposes, the council said. Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani said it was a “very sad and shameful episode that might well go down in history as the darkest day in Zimbabwean cricket.”
BASKETBALL
Rockets probing cyberattack
The Houston Rockets are investigating a cyberattack that attempted to install ransomware on the team’s internal systems, and the organization is working closely with the FBI, team officials said on Wednesday. “The Rockets organization recently detected suspicious activity on certain systems in its internal network. We immediately launched an investigation,” the Houston Rockets said in an e-mailed statement, adding that cybersecurity experts were also helping.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier