■ Rugby
McCaw named top player
New Zealand captain Richie McCaw has been named the International Rugby Board (IRB) Player of the Year, the IRB announced on Sunday. The All Blacks captain scooped the top individual accolade at the IRB Awards held in Glasgow, Scotland. McCaw's award topped a successful year and night for New Zealand, with the All Blacks named IRB Team of the Year for the second consecutive year and head coach Graham Henry winning the IRB Coach of the Year award. New Zealand are unbeaten in the autumn internationals and will finish the year as the world's No. 1 team.
■ Rugby
Ireland defeat Islanders
Ireland brought the curtain down on "old" Lansdowne Road by thumping the Pacific Islanders 61-17 on Sunday. Flyhalf Paddy Wallace, making his first start, scored 26 points, and flanker Simon Easterby scored two of Ireland's eight tries in the last match at Europe's oldest rugby stadium. Renovation will start next year and the stadium will reopen in 2009. The Islanders completed their first tour of Europe without a victory and finished with their heaviest defeat. Tries by center Seru Rabeni and winger Lome Fa'atau helped the Islanders to be competitive in the first half, unlike previous losses to Wales and Scotland.
■ Soccer
US downs Canada 2-1
Kristine Lilly scored on a penalty kick in the final seconds of overtime on Sunday to give the US a 2-1 victory over Canada in the final of the Women's Gold Cup, North America's qualifier for the 2007 Women's World Cup in China. Lilly's winner came beyond the 120th minute in the second of two 15-minute overtimes after a scoreless second half. Leslie Osborne scored in the seventh minute for the US while Randee Hermus scored in first-half injury time to equalize for Canada, which like the US qualified for next year's global football showdown. Mexico defeated Jamaica 3-0 in the third-place game to reach a two-game series with Japan to decide one of the last vacant berths in the Women's World Cup field.
■ Cricket
Yousuf leads Pakistan
In-form batsman Mohammad Yousuf hit an unbeaten half century yesterday to lead Pakistan's charge on the first day of the third and final cricket Test against the West Indies. Yousuf smashed 12 fours to sit on 67 not out at tea as Pakistan made steady progress to 174-3 on a grassless National Stadium wicket. Captain Inzamam ul-Haq was not out on 17. Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin failed to catch a thin edge off Yousuf's bat from a Chris Gayle ball in the last over before tea. The West Indies bowlers could get only one wicket in the second session when Dwayne Bravo enticed Imran Farhat (47) to drive a wide delivery.
■ Soccer
Mexican women take third
Monica Ocampo scored two goals to lead Mexico to a 3-0 victory over Jamaica in the third-place game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Sunday in Carson, California. Mexico will play Japan in a two-game series for one of the two remaining berths in next year's Women's World Cup, which will take place in September in China. Ocampo scored on a penalty kick in the 20th minute after being tripped in the penalty area by Jamaica's Alicia Wilson. Maribel Dominguez gave Mexico a 2-0 lead in the 23rd minute, when she took a pass from Iris Mora, beat Wilson, drew goalkeeper Paula Jackson away from the goal and converted inside the left post from 15 yards.
■ Soccer
Pele helps with casino bid
Las Vegas firm Eighth Wonder is hoping soccer legend Pele can help it score Singapore's second casino license. A 5,000-seat multi-purpose stadium named after the Brazilian will be part of the "Harry's Island" gaming and leisure resort if Eighth Wonder beats out two other contenders for the Sentosa island development, Eight Wonder's chairman and chief executive Mark Advent said yesterday. Pele will also head the Pele Sports Academy dedicated to developing youth participation in sports. "The Pele Stadium on Sentosa will be an international beacon and symbol for athleticism, team spirit and personal accomplishment, and showcase Singapore as a premier destination for world class sports and entertainment," he said.
■ Golf
Trump plans Scottish resort
US billionaire Donald Trump will this week submit a planning application for a golf course development in Scotland worth ?1 billion (US$1.9 billion) he said in an interview with the Guardian published yesterday. Speaking from New York, Trump told the newspaper: "We have incredible ocean frontage, incredible dunes and unbelievable land. When we put it all together it will be the greatest golf course anywhere in the world." The proposal is for two championship golf courses, a five-star hotel, and low-rise accommodation in Aberdeenshire in northeast Scotland.
■ Cycling
Spaniard killed on track
Isaac Galvez, the Madison world track champion and runner-up in the fourth stage of this year's Tour de France, died early on Sunday after crashing on the track. He was 31. The Spaniard crashed at high speed, hitting his chest against the side railing close to the end of the penultimate day of the traditional six-day race, event organizer Rob Discart said. Galvez, who raced for the Caisse d'Epargne team, was rushed to the hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. "His injuries were so serious he died on the way to the hospital," Discart told VRT radio.
■ Soccer
Bush twins watch Boca win
Boca Juniors beat Colon 4-1 at home on Sunday with the twin daughters of US President George W. Bush watching from the stands as Argentina's front-runner moved within a whisker of clinching the Apertura title. Jenna and Barbara Bush, wearing blue-and-yellow Boca jerseys, watched from the official team box at Boca's La Bombonera stadium as the hosts easily trounced their rival in the 17th outing of the Apertura season. Former Boca star Diego Maradona, who had a statue unveiled in his honor before kickoff, was also on hand to watch Boca get to 44 points, four ahead of runner-up Estudiantes.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier