Wrestling: US pulls out of Iran event
USA Wrestling will not send a team to the world freestyle wrestling championships in Iran next month because of possible threats to the seven-member team. USA Wrestling President Stan Dziedzic said the decision was made on Sunday following a conference call with members of the group's executive committee. USA Wrestling also asked FILA, the international wrestling federation, to move the Sept. 5 to Sept. 7 championships from Tehran to a safer location. Dziedzic said USA Wrestling received information from the US government about possible threats. The Iranian government could give the team no assurances of protection, he said.
Squash: Legend Khan returns
The world's top squash players yesterday welcomed news that former world champion Jansher Khan of Pakistan will make a comeback to the professional squash circuit. ``It is great that Jansher will return. It will be like Michael Jordan returning to basketball,'' said Canada's Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jonathon Power, who is ranked second in the world. ``Jansher's return will be good for squash. He was one of the top players of all time and I wish him all the best,'' said third-ranked Australia's David Palmer. Power and Palmer were among leading squash players in Hong Kong to compete in the US$100,000 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, which starts today.
Soccer: Hasselbaink to go
FC Barcelona and Chelsea were to begin discussions about transferring Dutch international striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to the Catalan powerhouse, news reports said yesterday. The leading daily Marca said yesterday that Barcelona was willing to pay the Premier League club 6 million euros (US$5.9 million) for the 30-year-old.
Soccer: Japan keener on sharing Japanese citizens were more satisfied than South Koreans with the results of their nations' co-hosting of the World Cup soccer finals this summer, according to a survey released yesterday. Survey results of 2,000 South Koreans and Japanese released by Seoul-based research firm, Gallup Korea, showed that 42.2 percent of Koreans respondents said it would have been better if South Korea had hosted the soccer's premier event alone. Only 18.5 percent of the 1,000 Japanese respondents believed an independent hosting by Japan in June would have been better, the survey said.
TML: Chiayi Luka 4: Taichung Agan 3
Chiayi Luka gained another close victory at home last night, beating the league-leading Agan 4-3. Luka took an early three-run lead in the bottom of the second off Agan starter Lee Ming-chin (李明進), only to see Agan tie the game by the top of the seventh inning. With the score tied 3-3, Luka managed to put the lead-off hitter Tsai Shih-wei (蔡士偉) on in the bottom of the seventh, due to a costly throwing error by Agan pitcher Lee Ming-chin. Tsai then stole second to put himself in scoring position. Two outs later, with Tsai still on second, game MVP Chang Wen-hsien (張文憲) singled home the runner all the way from second for the game-winner. It was Chang's second straight game-winning RBI hit in as many nights. Luka reliever Bicknell came on during the sixth and held the powerful Agan offense to just one run for the remainder of the contest to record his sixth win of the season. Bicknell finished the night with five strikeouts, three of which came in the ninth inning to retire the side in order. As for Agan starter Lee, his complete-game effort resulted in another tough loss, his fifth in a row.
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