Five-time Open Championship winner PETER THOMSON died, aged 88. Thomson had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for more than four years and died at his home in Melbourne on Wednesday. In '54, he became the first Australian to claim the Open Championship in Britain. He went on to be president of the Australian PGA for 32 years and helped establish the Asian Tour (BBC, 6/20). ... Serie A side Parma players EMANUELE CALAIO and FABIO CERAVOLO will appear in court for text messages "implying possible match-fixing" en route to the club's Serie A promotion. Italian media reported the messages were sent to Spezia players FILIPPO DE COL and ALBERTO MASI before Parma's 2-0 win on May 18 (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 6/20). ... MATT LODGE appealed for the National Rugby League to "let him continue his career" with the Brisbane Broncos after reaching a settlement with the American victims of his N.Y. "rampage" in '15. An emotional Lodge said that he finally found "closure" after brokering a compensation deal with his U.S. victims -- "closing the door on a tumultuous three-year ordeal for the Broncos forward." The deal was officially struck on June 11 after Broncos CEO PAUL WHITE and Lodge's father, a NSW policeman, flew to N.Y. to meet with legal representatives (Brisbane COURIER-MAIL, 6/20). ... Argentine tennis player NICOLÁS KICKER was banned for six years and fined $25,000 for fixing two matches on the second-tier Challenge Tour, the Tennis Integrity Unit announced. World No. 100 Kicker, 25, was "found guilty of contriving the outcome of a match" at the ATP Challenger event in Padova, Italy, in June '15 and another match at the Barranquilla Challenger in Colombia in Sept. '15 (LONDON TIMES, 6/20). ... Sri Lanka captain DINESH CHANDIMAL was suspended for one test after "being found guilty of ball tampering." The Int'l Cricket Council announced the punishment on Tuesday (LONDON TIMES, 6/20). ... Central African Republic Foreign Minister CHARLES ARMEL DOUBANE said on Tuesday that a copy of former tennis champion BORIS BECKER's diplomatic passport was a "clumsy fake." Becker said that he claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in London by taking a role with Central African Republic "as a sports envoy" (REUTERS, 6/19).
