■ Football
Brunell has surgery
Washington quarterback Mark Brunell, seeking to extend his NFL career, had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, the Redskins said on Monday. While Brunell may be on the road to recovery physically, there's a good chance he will have to hook up with a new team next season. After the Redskins got off to a 3-6 start, coach Joe Gibbs replaced the Brunell with Jason Campbell for the rest of the season. Now that Campbell seems to be the quarterback of the future in Washington, Brunell will likely be a salary cap casualty in the near future.
■ Football
Teams to play in Europe
San Francisco, Seattle and Miami were among six NFL teams selected as potential home teams for a regular-season game to be held next year in Britain or Germany. The other teams that could "host" the game are Buffalo, Kansas City and New Orleans. The league also narrowed the sites for the game on Monday, eliminating Canada and Mexico for this year. The opponent for one of the teams will be announced during Super Bowl week, but will not necessarily be one of those not picked as the home team. Last October, league owners approved a plan to play annual games in Europe, Canada and Mexico.
■ Football
Sheppard to miss game
The Philadelphia Eagles will not have cornerback Lito Sheppard for Saturday's playoff game against the New Orleans Saints. The two-time Pro Bowl player dislocated his left elbow in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' 23-20 win over the New York Giants in a wild card game on Sunday. "He's been ruled out for our next game," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. Rod Hood moved into Sheppard's cornerback spot and was beaten by Plaxico Burress on an 11-yard touchdown catch with 5:04 left in the fourth quarter, tying the game. But the Eagles responded with a 10-play, 46-yard drive that resulted in David Akers' game-winning 38-yard field goal as time expired.
■ Soccer
DC United sold
Four-time US Major League Soccer champion DC United has been sold for a record US$33 million to the third owner in the club's 11-year history. The purchase by DC United Holdings, led by San Francisco businessmen Victor MacFarlane and Will Chang, makes United the first MLS team with ethnic minorities as owners. MacFarlane is black and Chang, who is also one of the owners of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, is the first ethnic Chinese MLS owner. "Soccer is the No. 1 sport for people of color all around the world, but not here in the US -- yet," MacFarlane said. "We want to be part of the change that is now on the horizon. We would love to help make soccer the sport that African-Americans and other children of color first look to for recreation and entertainment."
■ Hockey
Fans want Fitzpatrick
If a fan campaign to vote the Vancouver Canucks' Rory Fitzpatrick into the NHL All-Star game is successful, Western conference coach Randy Carlyle suggested on Monday that the defenseman would get only limited ice time. With the NHL allowing fans to select the starting lineups for both the Western and Eastern Conference teams, the unheralded Fitzpatrick has been the focus of an internet campaign to vote him into the All-Star contest later this month.
■ England
John Terry admits charge
England and Chelsea captain John Terry has admitted a charge of improper conduct for criticizing referee Graham Poll after he was sent off during last November's Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. The defender originally asked for a personal hearing but has withdrawn his request and admitted the charge, the FA said on their Web site (www.thefa.com) on Monday. After the game Terry said Poll had given him conflicting reasons for his second yellow card, a claim denied by the referee. The charge was brought on the basis that Terry's comments questioned Poll's integrity. "The case will be dealt with tomorrow by a Disciplinary Commission on the basis of written submissions," the FA said.
■ Hungary
Grosics' condition improves
Gyula Grosics, one of the few surviving members of Hungary's 1950s-era Golden Team, is set to leave hospital after recovering from a health scare, the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) said on Monday. The 80-year-old Grosics, goalkeeper with the famous national side, was hospitalized last Thursday after losing consciousness when he suffered a lack of blood to his brain. However, the president of the MLSZ, Istvan Kisteleki, visited Grosics in hospital on Monday. Following the visit, the federation said on its Web site that Grosics was feeling better and should be able to go home in a few days.
■ Honduras
Coach in serious condition
Honduras coach Flavio Ortega was in a serious condition in hospital in Tegucigalpa on Monday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his doctors said. "He is stable but in a serious condition," Carlos Orellana said in a radio interview. "His heart is working normally, as are his kidneys and lungs. He is under sedation and ... breathing with the help of an apparatus." Honduran media said that Ortega, 62, collapsed at his sister's house on Saturday. Ortega, a Brazilian who has lived in Honduras since the 1960s, had been due to take charge of Honduras's first training session of the year on Monday.
■ Brazil
Romario waits on FIFA
Former Brazil striker Romario said on Monday he was waiting anxiously for a FIFA ruling on whether he could play for Vasco da Gama in the Carioca championship which starts this month. Romario, who will be 41 later this month, is trying to find a way around a FIFA rule which prevents players from representing more than two clubs in a set 12-month period. "It's not easy when you have to depend on somebody or something else," he told Brazilian television. "I hope FIFA understand my situation and let me do what I like the most which is to play football and score goals."
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