■ Hockey
Balsillie buys the Penguins
Jim Balsillie, the billionaire head of the firm that developed the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device, signed a deal on Thursday to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. Balsillie, 45, must receive approval from the NHL Board of Governors to complete the sale, a vote that is expected to come before the end of the year. The price tag is US$175 million, said Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, citing unnamed sources close to the deal.
■ Basketball
Carlisle gets extension
Rick Carlisle received a multi-year extension of his coaching contract with the NBA's Indiana Pacers on Thursday. Terms of the deal were not released by the club, which gave Carlisle the title of executive vice president of basketball operations. Carlisle enters his fourth season as the Pacers coach with a 146-100 record at Indiana, including three trips to the playoffs. He guided the Pacers to a club-record 61-21 season in 2003-2004 and a trip to the NBA semi-finals. The Pacers went 44-38 in his second season, one ruined by suspensions from an early season brawl with spectators at Detroit.
■ Tennis
Hewitt out for the season
Lleyton Hewitt has been ordered to rest a knee injury and will not play again this tennis season, reports said yesterday. The Australian former world No.1 is troubled by patella tendinitis and has been advised to stay off the court until the middle of next month, Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper said. That leaves him no chance to force his way into the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai played around the same time, and he will also miss the chance to improve his ATP ranking of 18 after starting the year at four. Hewitt's hopes of regaining a top-10 berth will revolve around January's Australian circuit.
■ Horse racing
Munce pleads innocent
Australian jockey Chris Munce pleaded innocent at Hong Kong's District Court yesterday to allegations he accepted advantages in exchange for racing tips. Munce, a former Melbourne Cup winner, is accused of conspiring with others to provide racing tips to a businessman, who allegedly repaid the favor by placing bets for Munce and relaying the winnings to him between last December and July. The winnings allegedly totaled HK$500,000 (US$64,211). Chief District Judge Barnabas Fung scheduled a five-day trial starting Feb. 12 and Munce posted bail of HK$100,000. The court has not imposed any traveling restrictions on the jockey, but he must give Hong Kong's anti-graft agency 48 hours' notice if he plans to leave the territory.
■ Soccer
France's Barthez quits
Veteran France international goalkeeper Fabien Barthez announced his retirement on Thursday, the 35-year-old who is out of contract at Marseille breaking the news on French television. His last appearance on the pitch was in Berlin's Olympic stadium on July 9 where France lost the World Cup final to Italy on penalties. The former Manchester United keeper, capped 87 times for Les Bleus, intimated in August that he would be happy to carry on playing for a further two years if the right offer came along. But on Thursday he told TF1: "I'm finished with football and the French team. "Now I'm going to continue enjoying myself, as I've done since the age of 15, but without football. I'm starting a new life."
■ Fencino
France defends epee title
France successfully defended its team epee title at the fencing world championships on Thursday. Eric Boisse, Gauthier Grumier, Fabrice Jeannet and Ulrich Robeiri beat Spain 42-41 in the final. Boisse and Jeannet also led France's gold-medal performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Ukraine took bronze by defeating Hungary 45-38. In women's team foil, Russia's foursome of Svetlana Boiko, Aida Chanaeva, Julia Khakimova and Ianna Rouzavina beat Italy 23-22 in the final. South Korea, the winner last year, was third following a 43-28 win over Poland.
■ Basketball
Barcelona outplay 76ers
FC Barcelona outplayed Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in the second half to win 109-104 on Thursday, only the third time an international club has beaten an NBA team since 1988. The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Soviet Union 132-123 in 1988 in Moscow, and the Toronto Raptors lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv 105-103 last year at Toronto. The Sixers have been in Barcelona since Sept. 29 for training camp and are one of four NBA teams taking part in the league's preseason in Europe. The exhibition game was the 76ers' opener in the NBA Europe Live tour.
■ Soccer
Hammers pair urged to quit
Argentina coach Alfio Basile said on Thursday that international stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano should quit struggling English side West Ham to save their careers. The Argentinean pair have struggled in London and the Hammers have failed to win since their arrival. "I hope both of them leave that club as soon as possible," Basile told Argentinean sports Web site TyC Sports. "I think they are half-hearted and I'm really worried about that. I hope for God's sake that Mascherano can go to Juventus as it has been said, even if he has to play in the second division [in Italy]. And Tevez can play in any position in the attacking line, but not as a left-winger like he is currently playing."
■ NFL
Gurode not pressing charges
Albert Haynesworth won't face criminal charges for scraping his boot across the unprotected face of Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode, and said on Thursday he would seek counseling for his behavior. But the Tennessee Titans tackle could not answer the one question everyone wants answered: Why? "It was a blur. It was a big, big mistake and something I wish I could do anything to take that back," said Haynesworth, who received a five-game suspension, the longest for on-field misbehavior in NFL history. Gurode's agent announced he won't seek criminal charges against Haynesworth for stomping on his head during Sunday's 45-14 win for the Cowboys. Gurode needed 30 stitches to close seven cuts and may require plastic surgery to repair the damage to his face.
■ Basketball
Lakers coach recovering
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson is recovering well following right hip replacement surgery and is walking with a cane, assistant Kurt Rambis said on Thursday. Jackson, who has won 10 NBA championships, nine as a coach, underwent the operation on Tuesday in El Segundo, California, and was discharged from the hospital a day later. Rambis said that Jeanie Buss, Jackson's longtime girlfriend, told him the 61-year-old coach was walking with a cane. Buss is the Lakers' executive vice president of business operations and the daughter of team owner Jerry Buss.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
Italian Luca de Aliprandini described Saturday’s World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere as the hardest race of his life, coming two days after his Swiss partner Michelle Gisin suffered a heavy fall in training which required neck surgery. De Aliprandini finished 26th in the men’s event won by Loic Meillard, but the result paled into insignificance with two-time Olympic ski champion Gisin in hospital with injuries to her wrist, knee and cervical spine (neck). “It was Michelle’s wish that I race here. I couldn’t say no to her, but it was the toughest race of my entire life,” an emotional De
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