Digest

DOPING

China stepping up fight against cheats

The Chinese government is expected to deal out harsher punishments for doping offenses by preventing cheats from joining the country's national teams.

The General Administration of Sport of China is soliciting public opinion on a new version of the Anti-Doping Management Regulation of China, which was originally introduced in 2015.

Under new proposals, athletes banned for over a year for doping would subsequently not be allowed to join national teams. The proposals also state that athletes banned under a year "need to be reviewed prudently before they are selected by the national teams".

Under the current rules, athletes can be selected for national squads four years after serving their bans.

In addition, an individual's doping offense could lead to the disqualification of his or her team in national-level tournaments, including the National Games.

Opinions and suggestions on the proposed regulations can be submitted on the official website of the Ministry of Justice by April 21.

BASKETBALL

Warriors lose injured Curry for another week

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry will miss at least another week after an MRI on his bruised tail-bone showed inflammation.

"We're going to reevaluate in a week," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said on Tuesday.

"He got an MRI this morning and it showed inflammation in that tailbone. He had made some progress the first couple of days just resting and then he did a little bit more work (Monday) and was still pretty sore.

"So our training staff and Steph put their heads together and decided this is going to be a little bit longer than we thought and hoped. So we'll reevaluate in a week."

Curry sustained the injury after taking an off-balance 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter in last Wednesday's 108-94 victory over the Houston Rockets. He has missed each of the Warriors' last three games.

A two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and seven-time All-Star, Curry is averaging a team-leading 29.0 points to go along with 6.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 39 games.

SOCCER

Dutch dumbstruck as Turkey gets off to flier

The Netherlands slumped to a "disappointing"4-2 loss to Turkey in Istanbul in their dramatic opening 2022 World Cup qualifier as Burak Yilmaz scored a hat-trick on Wednesday.

Turkey led 3-0 shortly after halftime through two Yilmaz goals and a Hakan Calhanoglu strike, but substitutes Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong gave Frank de Boer's Dutchmen hope. Yilmaz's wonderful freekick sealed victory for Turkey.

"Very disappointing result, and also the way that result came about,"De Boer said. "We knew that they would try to hit us on the counterattack, and yet the first goal was a classic example of that. Our tempo should have been higher, especially before the break."

The defeat is a dreadful start to the Group G campaign for the Netherlands, who failed to qualify for either Euro 2016 or the 2018 World Cup, but are considered one of the favorites for the delayed Euro 2020 finals.

HORSE RACING

Prominent breeder Sheikh Hamdan dies

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, one of the most influential figures in horse racing over the past four decades, has died at the age of 75, his brother Sheikh Mohammed announced on Twitter on Wednesday.

Sheikh Hamdan enjoyed huge success on the racecourse, winning both the Epsom Derby and the Melbourne Cup twice. His blue-and-white colors were most recently carried to glory by champion sprinter Battaash last year.

Sheikh Hamdan also served as the finance minister of the United Arab Emirates and deputy ruler of Dubai. He owned eight stud farms in Britain, Ireland and Kentucky in the United States.

"It is a time to reflect on his achievements and his enormous contribution to the global thoroughbred and Arabian industries," one of his stud farms, Shadwell Racing, said in a statement. "His legacy will live on through his horses."

Xinhua - Agencies