■ Tennis
Pacific Life Open begins
US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo started the Pacific Life Open with easy wins on Friday, in Indian Wells, California, and former No. 1 Kim Clijsters also advanced to the third round. Kuznetsova rebounded from an opening upset loss in Dubai this month by beating Czech qualifier Eva Birnerova 6-3, 6-2 as half the 32 seeds played after first-round byes, and four seeds fell early. Eighth-seeded Elena Bovina lost to fellow Russian, qualifier Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1, No. 9 Francesca Schiavone of Italy was upset by 153rd-ranked Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-3, 7-6 (5), No. 16 Shinobu Asagoe of Japan fell to Clijsters 6-3, 6-3, and No. 18 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Monetenegro, who reached the Dubai final, was ousted by Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.
■ Hockey
Forsberg gets concussion
Peter Forsberg will miss MoDo's next game against Farjestad in the Swedish Elite League playoffs after sustaining a slight concussion in game 4 of the quarterfinals, the team doctor said Friday. "It's a guarantee: Forsberg will miss Saturday's game," Kim Thorsen told a Swedish network television Web site. Thorsen didn't speculate how long Forsberg will be sidelined, but MoDo trails Farjestad three-games-to-one and must win Saturday or it will be eliminated. Retuning after a six-week absence due to a hand injury, Forsberg was cross-checked by Peter Nordstrom at 15:16 in the second period Thursday night at Karlstad, western Sweden. Nordstrom was ejected. Forsberg was the NHL's most valuable player with the Colorado Avalanche in 2003.
The NBA said was re-evaluating its training program in China following allegations of abuse of young players by local staff and harassment of foreign staffers at a facility in Xinjiang. The comments come after a report by ESPN that quoted unnamed American coaches as saying that Chinese coaches hit young players. One American coach who worked at a camp in Xinjiang complained of harassment by local police, the sports network said. “The allegations in the ESPN article are disturbing,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in an e-mail statement on Thursday. “We ended our involvement with the basketball academy in Xinjiang in June
Taiwan Steel on Sunday grabbed three points with a narrow 1-0 win against Hang Yuan FC, to move into the No. 2 spot on the Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL) log, while Taipower FC beat NTUS 2-0 to maintain first place. Taking advantage early in the match of opposition defenders who had not yet settled down, Taiwan Steel’s attacking trio of Wu Chun-ching, Marc Fenelus from the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Benchy Astama from Haiti pushed forward with good passes. After only one minute of play, Fenelus dribbled from the right flank, feeding a short pass inside the penalty area to
LEAVING IT LATE: Rakuten added late runs last night to add to wins on Wednesday against the Brothers and the Lions on Friday that went down to the last batter The Rakuten Monkeys rallied to post three late runs for another close win, prevailing 5-3 over the Uni-President Lions yesterday as Taiwan’s second-half CPBL season got started with lower scoring output, but exciting finishes. It was Rakuten’s third win in a row. In two games this week, they seized victory in dramatic fashion with their last at-bat and have drawn level with the CTBC Brothers on top of the table after yesterday’s results, 0.5 games in front of the Fubon Guardians and 1.5 games ahead of the Lions. It was tied at 1-1 early, with Rakuten hosting the Lions at the Taoyuan Intenational
STAYING COOL: Hamilton said that his ‘heart nearly stopped’ when he noticed the puncture, but he kept going to beat Alain Prost’s total of six home wins in France Lewis Hamilton said he feared he might not make it home when a last lap puncture almost derailed his charge to a record seventh British Grand Prix victory on Sunday. “I didn’t think I would make it round the last two corners,” the world champion said. The front left tire of his Mercedes had delaminated and deflated on his final lap, leaving the six-time world champion to nurse his vehicle to the finish as second-placed Max Verstappen hunted him down. “I just can’t believe it,” Hamilton said. “It was heart-stopping. I backed off and stayed chilled and was so glad it happened on
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