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THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 SPORTS China’s Wang buys 20% of Atletico Madrid for $52m

BEIJING: Chinese billionaire Wang Wang is number 42 on Forbes maga- ing to diversify away from the real estate annual income is just over a fifth of that young Chinese footballers to Spain, with Jianlin bought a 20 percent stake in zine’s list of the world’s richest people, sector-which is facing considerable chal- enjoyed by Real and Barca, the world’s the number expected to reach 180 by Spanish league champions Atletico with a fortune estimated at $18 billion, lenges in China-by investing in an ever- two richest clubs. 2017. Madrid yesterday, his company and was named as China’s second- expanding portfolio of companies “It is a very important step forward “What we are doing is to raise the announced, the first mainland Chinese wealthiest man last year. The flotation of including cinema chain AMC and yacht for the club in its effort to build a lead- level of Chinese game,” Wang was cited investment in a top European football one of his firm’s subsidiaries may have builder Sunseeker. ing global brand that will bring us the by the news agency as saying. club. since propelled him into first place. Last year he paid 265 million euros to financial resources to continue being “Hopefully, three to five among those 90 The deal was worth 45 million euros He is a diehard football fan and buy the Edificio Espana, an iconic sky- competitive in Europe and offer fasci- young players will play for top European ($52 million) the real estate tycoon’s Wanda became a household name scraper in central Madrid, from nating experiences to our fans,” Atletico clubs in the future and in five years, Wanda Group said on a verified account across China after Wang bought a Dalian Santander bank. Atletico stunned giants chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin Spain-trained players will fill the Chinese on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo. football club in 1994, renamed it after Real Madrid and Barcelona to claim a said in a statement released on the team in the Asian Cup,” he added, refer- It will provide “all-round support for the firm and transformed it into the first La Liga title in 18 years last season, club’s website. ring to the continental championship, the development of Chinese football”, strongest team in China. as well as reaching the Champions Both Gil Marin and Atletico chairman which is currently being played in the statement said, adding that both But Wang sold Dalian Wanda in 2000 League final where they were beaten by Enrique Cerezo agreed the deal with Australia. sides will spend 30 million euros on a after he became disillusioned with city rivals Real. Wang in Beijing. The two sides will collaborate on set- youth training centre in Madrid to foster widespread corruption in the Chinese However, the club have consistently State-run news agency Xinhua said ting up three football schools in China, young talent, including players from game at that time. had to sell their top players to pay off Wanda Group is currently funding a the Wanda statement said, and Atletico China. More recently Wanda has been look- huge debts in recent years and their youth training project which sent 90 may tour China later this year. — AFP

Ex-pro wrestlers sue WWE over concussions that caused injury

PHILADELPHIA: Two former professional erwise, from our (performers). WWE was wrestlers accuse the WWE of “selling vio- well ahead of sports organizations in lence” while ignoring concussions that they implementing concussion management say left them with serious brain injuries. procedures and policies as a precautionary The men, including one who performed measure as the science and research on under the name Skull Von Krush, have filed this issue emerged,” lawyer Jerry McDevitt a potential class-action lawsuit in federal said. court in Philadelphia that echoes thou- The suit describes some of the more sands of suits pending against the NFL. The dramatic tricks performed by WWE NFL litigation, pending in the same court- wrestlers, including the flying head butt house, could yield a $1 billion settlement if and the chair shot, which involves striking a a judge approves the proposed deal. performer in the head with a folding chair. The WWE plaintiffs are 50-year-old Vito “When performed by, and on, hulking, LoGrasso of Coatesville and 22-year-old poorly trained ... wrestlers with various lev- Evan Singleton of Lancaster. “Under the els of dexterousness, they (the tricks) are a guise of providing entertainment, the WWE recipe for disaster - and widespread, long- has, for decades, subjected its wrestlers to term brain damage,” said the lawsuit, filed extreme physical brutality that it knew, or by lawyers Harris L. Pogust of suburban should have known, caused created latent Philadelphia and Charles J. LaDuca of conditions and long-term irreversible bodi- Bethesda, Maryland. ly damage, including brain damage,” the The lawsuit accuses the WWE of down- lawsuit said. playing the seriousness of head injuries suf- The lawsuit said that Singleton, who fered in the ring and discouraging performed under the name Adam Mercer Singleton from seeing a neurologist. The from 2012 to 2013, is now disabled plaintiffs also allege that two WWE per- because of brain trauma he suffered early formers were found after their deaths to in his career, which began at 19. LoGrasso have the brain decay known as CTE, or suffers from migraines, memory loss, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and depression and deafness after nearly a that 13 current or former performers com- decade with the WWE, the lawsuit said. His mitted suicide over 10 years. various stage names included Skull Von The suit seeks unspecified economic Krush and Big Vito. damages and medical monitoring. The NFL A lawyer for the Stamford, Connecticut- expects about 6,000 former players to based company, led by Chairman and CEO develop Alzheimer’s disease or moderate Vince McMahon, said the lawsuit and a sim- dementia in the coming decades. Their ADELAIDE: Juan Jose Lobato of Spain gets a kiss on the podium after winning stage 2 of the 2015 cycling competition in ilar one filed in Oregon have no merit. awards could reach $3 million to $5 million Adelaide yesterday. The Tour Down Under is being held between January 18 to 25. — AFP “WWE has never concealed any medical but would likely average $190,000 given information related to concussions, or oth- their age and condition. — AP Spaniard swoops to win Robert Allenby quits PGA Tour Down Under 2nd stage Tour after Hawaii robbery ADELAIDE: Spain’s Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle stayed together until Cameron Meyer (Orica taken up by Garmin-Cannondale for Nathan HONOLULU: Australian golfer Robert tered in the park told him she had seen a swooped in the last 50 metres to win the second GreenEDGE) and (Lotto Haas. Allenby, who reported being abducted, few men drive up in a car and throw him stage of the Tour Down Under in the South Soudal) broke clear after 18 kilometres. With an average speed of 43.5kmh over the robbed and dumped from a car in a Hawaii out of the vehicle, and that a man he Australian town of Stirling yesterday. They were soon joined by Campbell last climb into Stirling, the peloton was soon park after failing to qualify for the Sony described as a “retired military guy” paid for Lobato Del Valle came from 10th place in the Flakemore (BMC), with the trio opening a lead of broken apart, but main general classification Open in Honolulu, says he has pulled out a taxi ride back to his hotel. closing stages to fly past South African Daryl almost four minutes by the 62km mark. contenders and man- from a PGA Tour event in California to Facial injuries were evident in published Impey (Orica GreenEdge) at the end of the long But unlike Tuesday when the peloton mist- aged to hang on. recover from his ordeal. pictures and television news footage of uphill finish and win in 3hr 42min 24sec. imed the chase and let the breakaway stay clear Haas launched his bid for glory 400 metres Police in Honolulu, meanwhile, issued a Allenby after the incident, and he opted His Movistar teammate Gorka Izaguirre until the finish, this time the main teams were out, but he was caught by Impey, who looked statement on Tuesday saying detectives out of this week’s Humana Challenge tour- Insausti was third, just ahead of Dutchman Tom taking no chances. certain to take the win until Lobato Del Valle’s were “reviewing witness statements and nament in California. Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin). “It was a very difficult The chase was organised by IAM and Team late surge. gathering security video footage” as part of “On the advice of my personal doctor I finish for me but I managed to come through Sky and steadily reeled in the leaders, catching Bobridge, 25, who now leads the Spaniard by a robbery and credit-card fraud investiga- have decided to withdraw from this week’s towards the end, and it’s a good win for the them at the end of the second of two 20km laps three seconds overall, will attempt to break the tion. Humana Challenge,” he said in a statement. team,” Lobato Dell Valle said. around the countryside surrounding Stirling. world one-hour record next week, but conceded But police made no mention in their “This will enable me to ensure I am fully “We always come to this race with a great that was now under a cloud. statement of Allenby’s account of having recovered prior to rejoining the PGA Tour. I team, we like to ride well here and it’s important Glory bid “I came here to look after the young guys (on been kidnapped from the Amuse Wine Bar anticipate a full recovery and look forward for us to do well in the Tour Down Under.” Calvin Watson (Trek Factory Racing) and the UniSA team) for general classification, so this in Honolulu and then beaten, and said no to returning in the near future.” Australia’s rode in with the Danilo Wyss (BMC) broke clear at the start of the has thrown a spanner in the works,” he said. arrests had been made in the case. Allenby has won four times on the US peloton to maintain his hold on the ochre last lap and stayed away for 10 kilometres, but “Now I’m in the (ochre) jersey I have to Allenby, 43, has said he went out for Tour, most recently at the 2001 leader’s jersey after a day’s racing in perfect con- they were caught at the bottom of the long defend it as much as possible and worry about drinks in Waikiki on Friday night with his Pennsylvania Classic. He turned profession- ditions on the testing course around the uphill finishing stretch into Stirling. the one-hour record next week.” Thursday’s caddy and a friend, then became separated al in 1992 and has won 18 other tourna- Adelaide Hills. IAM tried to set the race up for sprinter 143.2km third stage starts at Norwood and fea- from his companions after the group had ments around the world including 13 on From the inner-city Adelaide start the race Heinrich Hessler, but most of the running was tures a mountain top finish at Paracombe. —AFP paid their tab. the PGA Tour of Australasia. Allenby missed He told Reuters over the weekend that the cut at the Sony Open after shooting the next thing he recalled was waking up successive rounds of one-over-par 71 at the groggy in a park miles away from the bar to Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. The Russian athletics boss ready to resign find he had been beaten and robbed of his Humana Challenge, the third event of the wallet, cell phone, cash and credit cards. year on the PGA Tour, will be played at La MOSCOW: Russian Athletics Federation chief for RUSADA between 2008 and 2011. released a statement, saying: “An investigation He said a homeless woman he encoun- Quinta from Jan. 22-25. —Reuters Valentin Balakhnichev has said he is ready to RUSADA reacted immediately announcing by the IAAF Ethics Commission is already ongo- step down from his post following a string of their decision to open an investigation into ing with respect to some of the allegations doping scandals, local media reported yesterday. these accusations just two days after the docu- made in the documentary.” “My resignation may be necessary based on mentary was broadcasted. Balakhnichev, who is also the IAAF treasurer, the needs of the athletics federation,” Meanwhile, World Anti-Doping Agency has temporarily stepped down while the allega- Balakhnichev was quoted as saying by R-Sport WADA has also appointed an independent com- tions are investigated. news agency. “I’d like to fulfill my obligations and mission led by Richard Pound, a former head of The International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stay in charge until the end of all these scan- the agency, to investigate the case. added they had been in contact with the IAAF dals and investigations, but if the higher authori- The International Athletics Federation (IAAF) and were ready to act if necessary. —AFP ties decide that my resignation is required I’ll definitely step down,” he later told ITAR-TASS agency. On Tuesday three Russian Olympic champi- ons in race walking-Sergei Kirdyapkin, Valery Borchin and Olga Kaniskina-were all banned by the country’s anti-doping agency RUSADA for abnormal indexes of haematological profiles in their biological passports. The same punishment was meted out to 2011 50km world champion Sergei Bakulin. With these cases the number of banned athletes, who have been training in the race walking center in Saransk, the capital of Russia’s republic of Mordovia, has reached 20. The bans for Russian race walking Olympic champions caused has angered the country’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko, who announced his intention to purge the Russian athletics federa- tion. “This is very upsetting news for sport in Russia,” Mutko told ITAR-TASS. “And after such great scandals we have no other choice but to make serious organizational and personnel changes inside the (athletics) fed- eration and Saransk walking center.” Last month a 60-minute documentary “Secret Doping Dossier: How Russia produces its Winners” aired by Germany’s state broadcaster ARD, pointed the finger at Russian athletics boss Balakhnichev amongst others. JOHNS CREEK: This file photo taken on August 13, 2011 Australian golfer Robert The documentary featured hard-hitting accu- Allenby of Australia lines up a putt on the 2nd green during the third round of the sations by 800m runner Yulia Stepanova, who KREISCHBERG: First placed Switzerland’s Fabian Boesch celebrates on the podium after the 2011 PGA Championship Tournament in Johns Creek. Allenby has withdrawn from has also been banned for a doping violation, and Men’s Ski Slopestyle Finals of FIS Freestyle and Snowboarding World Ski Championships 2015 this week’s Humana Challenge after being beaten and robbed in Hawaii. —AFP her husband Vitaly Stepanov, who had worked in Kreischberg, Austria yesterday. — AFP