Former French rugby int’l THIBAUT PRIVAT, 37, announced he was retiring from the game last season “after 18 years in top level rugby.” However, Top14 side Lyon OU called Privat out of retirement to “fill the spot left by injured FÉLIX LAMBEY” (L’ÉQUIPE, 7/30). ... Former sumo and 31-time champion CHIYONOFUJI died Sunday in Tokyo "due to pancreatic cancer" aged 61. Chiyonofuji, whose real name was MITSUGU AKIMOTO, was the "first sumo wrestler to receive the People’s Honor Award" in '89 and ranks third in championships won behind HAKUHO (37) and TAIHO (32) (KYODO, 7/31). ... Indian ODI vice-captain HARMANPREET KAUR will "become the first woman from her country" to join a Women's Big Bash League franchise after she signed on to help Sydney Thunder defend the inaugural women's Twenty20 title. Kaur will "pad up for WBBL2 in Sydney this summer" after the Board of Control of Cricket in India "finally approved its female players participating in foreign leagues." The 27-year old all-rounder has played 118 times for India across all formats and "her signing with the Thunder ended a battle between five WBBL clubs chasing her signature" (Melbourne HERALD SUN, 7/30). ... Whistleblower YULIA STEPANOVA, who helped expose state-backed doping in Russian sports and has fled the country, asked again on Saturday for the IOC to "reassess her exclusion from the Rio Games." Stepanova's hopes of running at the Olympics, which start next week, as an independent athlete were "dashed when the IOC ruled earlier this month that no Russian with a doping background could take part." In a letter to the IOC, Stepanova and her husband VITALY, however said that "the middle-distance runner had earned the right to compete after having been cleared by the world athletics federation, the IAAF, and praised for her actions" (REUTERS, 7/30).
PLEADING GUILTY: Former Guatemala Football Federation President BRAYAN JIMENEZ pleaded guilty on Friday to "charges he received bribes to award lucrative media and marketing rights" for football matches, the latest development in the U.S. corruption investigation into FIFA. Jimenez said that he was "guilty of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud charges at a hearing in federal court" in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge ROBERT LEVY. Jimenez also agreed to forfeit $350,000. Jimenez is accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for authorizing "friendly" matches played by the Guatemalan national football team and for "awarding contracts for media rights for the team's World Cup qualifier matches to the sports marketing firm Media World" (REUTERS, 7/29).
