SOCCER
Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger demanded swift punishments for Tottenham fans who aimed monkey noises at him on Sunday during a London derby where the stadium announcer issued three warnings for the racism to stop in an unprecedented move for the Premier League.
“It’s just such a shame that racism still exists in 2019,” Rudiger tweeted. “When will this nonsense stop?”
The latest high-profile incident of racism at an English stadium led to calls from the players’ union for a government inquiry to hasten the search for solutions along with the police and officials across soccer.
“It is really sad to see racism again at a football match, but I think it’s very important to talk about it in public,” Rudiger said. “If not, it will be forgotten again in a couple of days (as always).”
The announcements at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were made at 10-minute intervals, starting midway through the second half of the game with Chelsea leading 2-0, which was the final result.
“Racist behavior among spectators is interfering with the game,” the announcer announced in a warning to the crowd of 61,104. “Please remember in football there is no place for racism.”
The abuse reported by Rudiger came after he was kicked in the chest by Tottenham forward Son Heung-min, who was sent off as a result.
Rudiger, who is black, was seen putting his hands under his armpits – seemingly mimicking a monkey gesture – before informing captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
That led to referee Anthony Taylor going over to the touchline before ordering the stadium announcements, implementing a procedure initially formed by FIFA to deal with discrimination in games.
GOLF
EUROPEAN: Adam Scott won the Australian PGA at Royal Pines at Gold Coast, Australia, for his 30th professional victory and first in almost four years.
The 39-year-old Australian closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory over New Zealand’s Michael Hendry.
“I’m stoked. This has been a long time coming and I’m really happy to win another PGA here. It finishes off a nice year for me,” Scott said. “It’s been a long time between drinks for me and maybe only once or twice did the thought cross my mind that I’ll never win again. It’s very difficult to win and I’m on the wrong side of this age thing now.”
Scott finished at 13-under 275. He also won the 2013 event at Royal Pines.
Hendry shot a 69.
DOPING
RUSSIA: Russia is blaming the World Anti-Doping Agency’s star witness for modifying key laboratory data. His lawyer says that’s nonsense.
The Russian Investigative Committee, a major law enforcement agency, alleges that former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov remotely changed test results from abroad after fleeing to the United States in 2015.
“All the evidence obtained by the investigation shows that Rodchenkov and unidentified persons intentionally made changes in the electronic database to distort the parameters and indicators of Russian athletes’ doping samples,” Russian Investigative Committee (IC) spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement.
Since leaving Russia, Rodchenkov has become a key witness for WADA, which ruled this month that the doping data – known as the LIMS database – was doctored to protect Russian athletes who failed drug tests while the data was in the custody of the IC.
Handing over the files in January was meant to be a Russian peace offering that could uncover past doping offenses involving star Russian athletes. It’s turned into another legal battleground in the saga nearly six years on from Russia hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Rodchenkov’s lawyer told the AP the new allegation against his client is a “farce.”
SKIING
MEN’S WORLD CUP: With longtime rival Marcel Hirscher retired, things are looking up for Henrik Kristoffersen.
The Norwegian skier surged up from sixth after the first run to win the vaunted Alta Badia giant slalom at La Villa, Italy, and move atop both the GS and overall World Cup standings.
Kristoffersen finished 0.31 seconds ahead of surprise runner-up Cyprien Sarrazin of France, with Zan Kranjec of Slovenia third, 0.39 back.
First-run leader Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen had a wild second trip down the steep Gran Risa course and finished 11th.
It was the 20th career World Cup victory and the second this season for Kristoffersen, who also won the giant slalom at last season’s world championships in Are, Sweden.
Kristoffersen’s previous best finish in this race was second in 2015 and 2017 – both times behind Hirscher.
Hirscher also won the last eight overall titles and Kristoffersen is one of the top contenders to take the Austrian’s crown.
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