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Sport Briefs

■ Local
McCauley joins Giant
Gordon McCauley, one of New Zealand's top cyclists, has joined a professional team sponsored by Taiwan bicycle maker Giant. McCauley, who signed a contract with the Giant Asia team on Friday, will be teaming up with young local stars Peng Kui-hsiang (彭貴祥) and Lai Kuan-hua (賴冠華), among others. McCauley left for Southern Europe on Sunday to take part in the Adriatic Cup as a Giant Asia member. McCauley, 31, has been with various commercial cycling teams for three years and holds an impressive International Cycling Union score of 152. Since first winning an important race in New Zealand, he has joined various teams in the UK and continental Europe. He won eight professional races last year.

■ Asia
Kim hat trick seals victory
Kim Do-hoon scored three goals Sunday as two-time K-League champion Seongnam Ilhwa of South Korea crushed Thailand's Osotspa 6-0 in Group B of the Asian Champions League. Uzbekistan's Pakhtakor also got a big win in Tashkent, beating Nisa of Turkmenistan 3-0 in Group D. The winners of each of the four groups, which each have four teams, will advance to the semifinals. Each group is being played at one venue. Park Nam-yul and Sasa Drakulic also scored for Seongnam, which scored three goals in each half in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian. In the other Group B match, Japan's Shimizu S-Pulse drew 0-0 with local side Dalian Shide.
In other matches, Pirouzi of Iran beat Al Talaba of Iraq 1-0 in Group D; Iran's Esteghlal topped Al Saad of Qatar 2-1 in Group C in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates; and Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates beat Saudi club Al Hilal 1-0, also in Group C.

■ Cricket
India makes semifinals
Sachin Tendulkar smashed a majestic 97 yesterday to help India book its place in the World Cup semifinals with a 183-run win over Sri Lanka -- - then gave the bowlers credit for a job well done. "That was a great batting track so for the bowlers to get that much bounce, movement and pace from it was just extraordinary," said Tendulkar after the victory at the Wanderers where Javagal Srinath and Ashish Nehra both returned identical figures of 4-35. "Now we are in the semi-final we just have to keep going." India, put into bat by a half-fit Sri Lanka skipper Sanath Jayasuriya, made the most of perfect conditions to make 292-6 off 50 overs. "I am terribly disappointed not to have reached a 100 but the main thing is that the team won. We are in the semifinal and that is very exciting," Tendulkar said.
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