Times wires
Thursday, May 26, 2011
soccer
presidential challenger: investigate incumbent
ZURICH — Mohamed bin Hammam, a candidate for president of the sport's governing body (FIFA), fought back in an increasingly bitter election race Thursday, calling for incumbent Sepp Blatter to be investigated in a spiraling bribery scandal.
Bin Hammam urged FIFA's ethics panel, which is investigating allegations he tried to bribe voters in the Caribbean, to examine Blatter's behavior. He said evidence submitted to FIFA suggests Blatter broke the ethics code by not reporting an apparent corruption attempt.
Blatter, in a regular campaign column for a website, said it was "ludicrous and completely reprehensible" to suggest he is part of a conspiracy to remove bin Hammam from the race. Voting is Wednesday.
Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation president, and FIFA vice president Jack Warner face an ethics hearing Sunday over allegations stemming from bin Hammam's May 10-11 campaign trip to Trinidad, Warner's home country.
figure skating
Kerrigan's brother gets 21/2 years
The brother of two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan was sentenced to the maximum 21/2 years in jail despite tearful pleas from the skater and her family to spare him more time behind bars.
Mark Kerrigan, 46, was convicted Wednesday in Woburn, Mass., of assault and battery but acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2010 death of his and Nancy's father, Daniel, 70, at the family's home in Stoneham, north of Boston.
Prosecutor Elizabeth Keeley recommended the maximum sentence, citing Mark Kerrigan's long criminal record, including his release from a four-year jail term two months before the altercation that led to his father's death. Judge S. Jane Haggerty said Kerrigan has "uncontrollable anger issues" and mental health issues, and she would have given him a longer sentence if she could have.
et cetera
cycling: The Court of Arbitration for Sport postponed its June hearing on Alberto Contador's doping case, meaning the three-time Tour de France winner could compete in July's event before it rules. The International Cycling Union and World Anti-Doping Agency are challenging the Spanish federation's decision to clear Contador after he blamed a positive test for clenbuterol at last year's race on eating contaminated beef. … Eros Capecchi won a three-way sprint to the line to take the 18th stage of the Giro d'Italia, and Contador retained the overall lead with a time of 71 hours, 45 minutes, 9 seconds, 4:58 better than Michele Scarponi.
track: Usain Bolt, the 100-meter world-record holder, won his first race in nine months, the 100 at Rome's Golden Gala, in 9.91 seconds to edge former record-holder Asafa Powell (9.93).
Times wires