■ Basketball
Yi breaks Yao's dunk record
Rising star Yi Jianlian (易建聯) has broken NBA center Yao Ming's (姚明) record for the most slam dunks by a Chinese player in the China Basketball Association, a Chinese sports Web site said yesterday. Yi, 19, who plays for the league champion Guangdong Tigers, surpassed Yao's CBA record of 302 dunks by a Chinese player, according to Sina.com. Yi overtook Yao's dunk milestone two weeks ago and, following Guangdong's 102-91 victory over Shandong on Wednesday, the 2.12m Yi has 314 dunks. Yi, who is averaging 24.3 points and 12.1 rebounds per game this season, is expected to be a top pick in the National Basketball Association's June draft, following his famous countryman into the world's toughest league.
■ Cricket
McGrath and Lee recalled
Australia have recalled fast bowlers Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee for today's tri-series one-day international against England at the Gabba in Brisbane. The pair will replace Stuart Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus in a reshuffled team for the fourth match of the triangular series. Australian captain Ricky Ponting will miss the match as part of the team's rest and rotation policy to keep their players from burning out before the March 13-April 28 World Cup. Brad Hodge will fill Ponting's place at No. 3 in the batting lineup, while Adam Gilchrist will take over as skipper in his 250th limited-overs international.
Lee missed Australia's first matches of the series with bronchitis while McGrath played in Australia's eight wicket win over England but missed the 105-run victory over New Zealand.
■ Soccer
David Vanole dies aged 43
David Vanole, a goalkeeper who started for the US at the 1988 Olympics and helped the US team qualify for the 1990 World Cup, has died. He was 43. No reason was given for his death. Vanole, who lived in New York, collapsed at dinner on Monday in Salt Lake City during a family ski vacation and died later that day, National Basketball Association spokesman Brian McIntyre said on Wednesday. Vanole's wife, Kerry Tatlock, is the NBA's senior director of global marketing partnerships. "Vanole was one of the pioneers at the start of a new era for US soccer," US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said. Vanole was a member of UCLA's 1985 US college championship team and helped the US national team qualify for its first World Cup in 40 years. He made 13 appearances and was unbeaten in five qualifiers, winning three, from 1986-1989.
■ Soccer
Man U lend Rossi to Parma
Parma acquired Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi on Wednesday on loan until the end of the season. "We've done a deal for the loan of Giuseppe Rossi," Parma board member Roberto Cappelli said. "Our sporting director [Gabriele Zamagna] did brilliantly. He managed to complete a swoop for a player, who was sought after by many clubs. ... We are particularly happy because he [Rossi] is an important reinforcement until the end of June," he said. Rossi, who was born in the US but has played for Italy's under-21 team, joined the Red Devils from Parma in July 2004, making 14 appearances. The 19-year-old recently completed a four-month loan to United's premiership rival Newcastle. Rossi was due to arrive in Parma yesterday and could play against Torino in Italy's Serie A this weekend.
■ Soccer
Sheva denies favoritism
Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko has denied accusations that he has a special relationship with billionaire Russian manager Roman Abramovich which is destabilizing the English Premier League champions. "Those rumors are all lies," the Ukrainian told the Times. "A lot of things have been said which aren't true. We might have a quick word with each other but that is natural as we both speak Russian. Maybe I shouldn't speak Russian." Shevchenko has scored only five goals this season and manager Jose Mourinho has made veiled references to a lack of effort. British newspapers have reported that Abramovich's backing for the out-of-form striker is one of several issues which have created a rift with Mourinho and might persuade him to leave at the end of the season.
■ Soccer
Gulf Cup kicks off
Oman beat the United Arab Emirates 2-1 on Wednesday in the opening match of the Arabian Gulf Cup. Oman's Fawzi Basheer scored in the 36th minute of the Group A game from outside the penalty area. Basheer set up the second goal for Emad Al Hosani in the 50th. Ismail Matar scored in the 63rd for the hosts. The UAE played with 10 men from the 27th when midfielder Hilal Saeed was sent off for a foul on Basheer. This is the 18th biennial championship. Oman lost the 2005 final to Qatar.
■ Ice Hockey
Straka extends his deal
Martin Straka, the leading scorer for the New York Rangers this season, signed a contract extension with the NHL club on Wednesday, the team announced. The 34-year-old left wing from the Czech Republic has scored 24 goals and added 31 assists in 47 games this season for the Rangers, proving invaluable in power play situations. Straka, an All-Star with Pittsburgh in 1999, has 238 career goals and 423 assists in parts of 14 seasons with the Rangers, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders. The Rangers have lost 10 of their past 15 games and slid to 23-20 with four overtime losses, trailing division leader New Jersey by 10 points.
■ NFL
Chargers retain head coach
The San Diego Chargers have said Marty Schottenheimer will return as head coach next season, but that the veteran had turned down an extension for next year. There had been speculation Schottenheimer would be fired after the Chargers lost to the New England Patriots 24-21 on Sunday, bringing their tremendous NFL season to a disappointing end. San Diego went 14-2 but a late collapse in the playoff game against New England ended their Super Bowl aspirations.
■ Soccer
Withe set to get the boot
Indonesia coach Peter Withe is set to lose his job after the national side failed to reach the semi-finals of the Asean championship, the chairman of the Indonesian Football Association was quoted as saying yesterday. "Obviously I will fire him. We have given him a chance," Nurdin Halid told the Koran Tempo newspaper. The former England and Aston Villa striker was handed an ultimatum before the tournament began: take Indonesia to the final or face the axe. Indonesia drew 2-2 with Singapore on Wednesday when a win would have guaranteed them a place in the final four. Indonesia collected five points, but missed out on a semi-final berth because of goal difference.
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