Castro backs disgraced taekwondo athlete
Fidel Castro on Monday defended the Cuban taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee in the face at the Beijing Olympics, saying Angel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match.
Taekwondo officials want Matos and his coach banned for life from the sport. But Castro expressed “our total solidarity” for both Matos and coach Leudis Gonzalez.
Baseball
9-year old too good
Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player – too good, it turns out.
The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch anymore. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.
Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho’s team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it.
Basketball
Donaghy info wanted
A Phoenix prosecutor is seeking the federal files in the investigation of disgraced ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy, who was sentenced in July to 15 months in prison in a gambling scandal.
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas asked a year ago for access to information from the FBI’s investigation of Donaghy. Thomas said he wanted to know whether Donaghy broke any Arizona laws while officiating two Phoenix Suns-Los Angeles Lakers playoff games in 2007.
•The Dallas Mavericks re-signed forward Devean George.
Golf
Dubai course ‘on track’
Abdulla Al Gurg, the project chief for Tiger Woods’ luxury golf course hewn from the sands of the Arabian desert, said that the first phase of the development, which among other unlikely features promises 5 million square feet of locally grown grass and more than 30,000 full-grown imported trees, is on target for completion sometime in the last three months of 2009.
•Woods said he is not sure whether he will be ready to defend his title at the Dubai Desert Classic next year.
Miscellany
NCAA denies Mauk
The NCAA has turned down Cincinnati quarterback Ben Mauk’s latest appeal for another year of eligibility, but granted him one more chance to plead his case before a reinstatement committee.
•Joe Gibbs Racing has selected 18-year-old Joe Logano to replace Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Sprint Cup Toyota next season.
•Kentucky horse racing regulators have approved a major ban on anabolic steroids that could outlaw the drugs for next year’s Kentucky Derby and other races in the state.