■ Soccer
Woodward to Southampton
England rugby union World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was on Monday confirmed as English Premiership side Southampton's new technical director. "He is coming in to learn. He's coming in to pick people's brains and I'm happy with that. But I am the manager and I pick the team and recommend the players," Southampton manager Harry Redknapp said. Before he switches sports Woodward, a friend of club chairman Rupert Lowe, has more pressing matters on his mind as coach of the British and Irish Lions who on Saturday will be trying to redeem themselves after two maulings by the All Blacks.
■ Boxing
Mexican dies in Las Vegas
A Mexican super-lightweight has become the fifth boxer in 11 years to die as a result of a fight in Nevada, a Las Vegas newspaper reported. Martin Sanchez, 26, died in a Las Vegas hospital on Saturday as a result of injuries sustained in a fight on Friday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. "It's just a tragedy and something you never want to have to deal with," Nevada Athletic Commission executive director Marc Ratner told the newspaper. "We're all devastated and shocked by this. I'm satisfied that we followed every one of our procedures to give him the best care we could, but to have this still happen, it really hurts." Sanchez, who had a 13-10 record with 10 knockouts, was knocked out in the ninth round by Russian Rustam Nugaev.
■ Rugby
Samoa eyes World Cup entry
Samoa has set its sights on a spot in the 2007 Rugby World Cup with an emphatic 50-28 win over South Pacific rivals Tonga in Apia at the weekend. Coming off a 74-7 thrashing from Australia last month, Samoa restored its pride with a six tries to three victory. Winger Alesana Tuilagi led the way with four tries in the Samoan capital on Saturday. Flyhalf Roger Warren helped to ensure the wide margin with four penalties and four conversions for a tally of 20 points. Coach and former All Black great Michael Jones described the result as "fantastic." "This is the sweetest victory since I've been involved with Manu Samoa," Jones was quoted as saying in the Fiji Sun on Monday.
■ Soccer
ManU for human rights
English Premier League club Manchester United is backing China's fight against human trafficking with a US$400,000 donation in partnership with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN agency said on Monday. The money will be spent on a pilot program in southwest China's Sichuan Province to help stop women and children being trafficked and step up victims' rescue and rehabilitation, UNICEF said in a statement. Thirty-second messages recorded by players in English and Mandarin will also be broadcast throughout the country to raise awareness of the problem.
■ Tennis
Philippoussis out
Injured Mark Philippoussis has been ruled out of the Australian team named yesterday for the Davis Cup quarterfinal tie against Argentina on July 15 to July 17. He will be replaced by Australia's No.3 Peter Luczak, captain John Fitzgerald announced. Luczak, who is ranked 147th in the world, will join world No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt, Wayne Arthurs (ranked 77th) and Chris Guccione (ranked 183rd) in the team for the tie to be played on grass at Sydney Olympic Park.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two