Doping accusations to be investigated
The World Anti-Doping Agency responded to allegations by two European media outlets of suspicious drug tests in athletics by asking an independent body to investigate.
WADA President Craig Reedie said Sunday he was surprised by the scale of the allegations, including that one-third of medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships over a 10-year period were won by athletes who recorded suspicious doping tests.
German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain said they obtained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes. The files came from the database of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were leaked by a whistleblower, according to the reports.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Union University added Millington native Tiara Caldwell, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, to its roster. Caldwell is a transfer from UT Martin, where she averaged 8.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. ... Northwest Mississippi Community College guard Bethany Lytle signed with Union on Friday. Lytle. who played for the MHEA Eagles in high school, averaged 9.2 points, 4 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game as a redshirt sophomore this past season. ... A law firm hired by the University of Illinois to investigate allegations of racially motivated mistreatment of women’s basketball players concluded in a report released Monday that the charges are unfounded. Seven former players sued the university, coach Matt Bollant, athletic director Mike Thomas and others on July 1, alleging Bollant and other coaches used race to divide the team and drive players out.
CYCLING
American cyclist Tom Danielson tested positive for synthetic testosterone in an out-of-competition test last month and was suspended by his team on Monday. Danielson, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, said on Twitter that he did not take any banned substance.
HORSE RACING
Lady Shipman continued her winning ways with a dominating three-length victory in the $100,000 Coronation Cup Monday at Saratoga Race Course in New York. ... The $1.2 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands on Saturday will feature last year’s top colt and filly trotters. Pinkman, the Dan Patch winner as the top colt, and Mission Brief, the filly champion, were among 19 horses entered Monday in the race. Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan (right), blocking Jurrell Casey at training camp, says,“If we get the right attitude, we can be an offensive line that nobody wants to play against.”
TORONTO — The Royals and Blue Jays have moved on: After an exchange of hit batters, they’re now trading barbs on Twitter.
First, Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista posted a message Sunday night saying he had “lost a lot of respect” for Ned Yost after hearing the Royals manager praise home plate umpire Jim Wolf’s handling of Sunday’s game.
Two Blue Jays batters were hit by pitches and reliever Aaron Sanchez was ejected for retaliating by hitting Kansas City infielder Alcides Escobar.
That prompted Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura to post Tweets calling Bautista a “nobody” and accuse him of stealing signs. Ventura later deleted the messages.
Bautista took the high road when asked to respond to Ventura’s comments Monday.
“He’s a young player that could use some maturing,” Bautista said. “Hopefully he focuses on playing the game and allowing his ability to create a name for himself.”
Bautista didn’t back down from his remarks about Yost, calling the manager’s praise of Wolf “ridiculous.”
Briefly: Pirates righthander A.J. Burnett hopes to pitch again this season after an MRI on his pitching elbow revealed a strained flexor tendon rather than a torn ligament. He reiterated that he will retire at the end of the season.