Chelsea Owner ROMAN ABRAMOVICH "may take legal action" against RBC Media group, which reported Monday that Abramovich was detained by the FBI in the U.S. The report was published by the RBC TV division on Monday, "and was immediately denied." However, shares of companies owned by Abramovich "experienced a sharp drop on exchanges after the report" (MOSCOW NEWS, 3/26). ... Former Olympic Gold Medalist YASUHIRO YAMASHITA will assume the responsibility for eradicating abuse within the All Japan Judo Federation. Yamashita was appointed to take charge of the federation’s “declaration to eradicate abuse" (KYODO, 3/27). ... Ace Indian shuttler SAINA NEWHAL was on Wednesday nominated for the 2012 Female Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation. Saina is the only non-Chinese among the five contenders. The four Chinese are world No. 1 LI XUERUI, Olympic Silver Medallist WANG YIHAN Olympic Women's Doubles gold-winning pair TIAN QING/ZHAO YUNLEI (PTI, 3/27). ... Former Brazil football coach MANO MENEZES has planned to resume his managerial career with a European club, his agent CARLOS LEITE has revealed (XINHUA, 3/27). ... Norwegian speedskater HJALMAR ANDERSEN, who won three Gold Medals in three days to become the most decorated athlete at the 1952 Oslo Olympics, "died on Wednesday only days after celebrating his 90th birthday." Known affectionately as "King Happy," Andersen "died in an Oslo hospital after suffering a fall in his home on Monday" (REUTERS, 3/27).
MATTERS OF THE COURT: Former St. Kilda tagger STEVEN BAKER has been banned from all forms of football for the rest of his life after "being found guilty for his part in an incident that left an opponent with a broken jaw." Baker has "strongly protested his innocence" and the club has already lodged an appeal over the incident on March 9 (THE AGE, 3/28). ... Former All Black player JERRY COLLINS "has been released from custody in Japan." Collins had been in custody since March 17, following his arrest at a city department store for carrying knives (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 3/27). ... Two-time Olympic cross country skiing champion ANDRUS VEERPALU "won his appeal Tuesday against a three-year doping ban despite the sport's highest court suspicion he used human growth hormone." The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the Estonian skier's appeal citing "procedural flaws" that could have caused false positive test results (AP, 3/26). … Chinese Super League Guangzhou Evergrande head coach MARCELLO LIPPI "has been widely tipped to replace" Spaniard JOSE ANTONIO CAMACHO as head of the Chinese national team next year (CHINA DAILY, 3/27).
