International sport briefs
Volunteers used to fill seats — Sochi organisers
SOCHI, Russia (AP) — Organisers of the Sochi Games yesterday confirmed that they are using volunteers to fill the seats at less popular events.
Competitions at the games have so far varied from sell-outs at the ice-skating team event on Sunday to half-empty stands at biathlon.
Alexandra Kosterina, a spokeswoman for the Sochi organising committee, said volunteers are enrolled in a motivation programme, which means some of them will be offered tickets to see competitions after hours.
“If we see that there’s not a turnout and there are seats available, then yes, we might invite volunteers to join in,” Kosterina said.
Security concerns in Sochi have been feeding expectations that the games will not attract enough international spectators and that athletes will be performing to empty seats.
Son of Indian cricket chief guilty of illegal betting — report
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A Supreme Court panel probing a match-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League said yesterday the son-in-law of Indian cricket chief N Srinivasan was guilty of illegal betting on games, the Press Trust of India reported.
The three-member panel, headed by retired judge Mukul Mudgal, said the allegations of fixing against Gurunath Meiyappan required further investigation, the news agency reported.
The court had appointed the panel on October 8 to investigate the scandal that rocked the popular Twenty20 tournament run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last year.
The panel spent four months interacting with players, IPL team owners, the police, journalists, anti-corruption unit personnel and various other stakeholders.
The report, running into 170 pages and more than 4,000 pages of annexes, was handed to Supreme Court judges Ananga Kumar Patnaik and Jagdish Singh Khehar yesterday.
Meiyappan was the team principal of the Chennai Super Kings, the IPL franchise owned by Srinivasan’s India Cements company and captained by national skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Online poll favours Mayweather-Khan bout
LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — The votes are in, and fight fans say Britain’s Amir Khan should be American Floyd Mayweather’s next opponent, according to an online poll conducted on Mayweather’s website.
World Boxing Association welterweight champion Marcos Maidana had held a lead in the voting on Mayweather’s mayweatherpromotions.com online poll, but when the voting ended on Sunday Khan had swept past him with 20,105 votes to 15,474 for Maidana.
Although unbeaten Mayweather had invited fans to choose between Khan and Maidana as his foe for a May 3 Las Vegas bout, it wasn’t immediately clear if a Mayweather-Khan clash was indeed now a given.
At 45-0 with 26 knockouts, Mayweather is approaching the 46-0 career mark of retired Welsh star Joe Calzaghe and the iconic 49-0 mark of heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano.
Mayweather beat Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September in his most recent bout for the WBA and World Boxing Council light middleweight titles. He has a contract for four more fights in the next two-and-half years.
Armstrong sympathiser sentenced for Tygart threats
DENVER, USA (AP) — Another person has been sentenced for sending a threatening email to USAnti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart over the agency’s sanctions against Lance Armstrong.
Robert Hutchins of Utah was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Denver to serve one year of probation with mental health treatment and perform 50 hours of community service.
Chief US District Judge Marcia Krieger also ordered the 60-year-old to pay $3,300 to cover the cost of his probation supervision. He pleaded guilty in November to one count of sending interstate communications involving a threat.
Last month, a retired physician from Florida, Gerrit Keats, was sentenced to probation and 540 hours of community service for sending a threatening email to Tygart that was more graphic.
NZ cricketers fined for drinking on eve of Test
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand players Jesse Ryder and Doug Bracewell have been fined for drinking until the early hours of the morning before the first Test against India and New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has hinted their selection chances may have been harmed.
Batsman Ryder and fast bowler Bracewell were seen drinking in Auckland bars until around 3:00 am on the first day of the Test last Thursday. Bracewell arrived at Eden Park with a broken bone in his foot, the cause of which has not been explained.
NZC head of operations Lindsay Crocker said the players accepted a charge of misconduct and were fined a confidential amount of money.
Crocker said the larger consequence for the players may be the damage to their relationship with national coach Mike Hesson and selection manager Bruce Edgar.
Derby stay on course for Premier League promotion
LONDON, England (AFP) — Derby improved their prospects of automatic promotion to the Premier League with a crucial 1-0 win over Championship promotion rivals Queens Park Rangers (QPR) yesterday.
Steve McClaren’s team moved within one point of second-placed Burnley and third placed QPR thanks to a first-half header from John Eustace at the iPro Stadium.
Eustace’s goal was his first for Derby in more than four-and-a-half years and it was enough to extend fourth-placed Derby’s unbeaten run to five league matches.
The midfielder struck in the 20th minute when QPR goalkeeper Robert Green came to punch away Will Hughes’ in-swinging corner.
However, the ball merely brushed his fist and was diverted towards Eustace, who returned it with a looping header into the far corner of the net.