May 23, 2013

Tennis: Sharapova pushed to limit in Tokyo

Maria Sharapova of Russia serves the ball to Heather Watson of Britain during their second round match at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo

(Reuters) – Maria Sharapova pushed the envelope on ‘winning ugly’ as she squeaked past British qualifier Heather Watson 6-7 6-3 6-4 to reach the last 16 of the Pan Pacific Open on Tuesday. The French Open champion’s performance bordered on the farcical at times, carelessly frittering away three set points to surrender the initiative before [...]

Olympics Roundup: 8 Olympic badminton players out for trying to lose

London Olympics Badminton Women

LONDON (AP) — Five things to know about Wednesday, Day 5 of the London Olympics: —Badminton flap talk of London Games. —Uchimura on top of men’s gymnastics. —Britain gets first 2 golds of games. —Is Phelps greatest ever? Olympians weigh in. —Venus Williams bounced from tennis singles; Serena advances. The crowd booed as the badminton [...]

Olympics: Badminton players disqualified, hosts win gold

China's Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang play against South Korea during their women's doubles group play stage Group A badminton match during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Wembley Arena

(Reuters) – Eight women badminton players were disqualified by the sport’s federation on Wednesday for deliberately trying to lose at the Olympics and manipulate the draw, angering fans and fellow athletes who said they undermined the spirit of the Games. They were disqualified following a formal disciplinary hearing by the Badminton World Federation, but were [...]