■ Skiing
David wins ski cross event
Ophelie David of France and Japan's Hiroomi Takizawa won freestyle World Cup ski cross events yesterday. David, who leads the overall ski cross World Cup standings, finished ahead of Sweden's Magdalena Iljans. Meryl Boulangeat of France was third. The three-day event continues today with men's and women's mogul races. Ski cross will make its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
■ Boxing
Holyfield looks for third win
Evander Holyfield will look to stay perfect since coming out of retirement when he fights Vinny Maddalone on March 17. The 44-year-old former heavyweight boxing champion has won both fights since returning from a two-year layoff, improving to 40-8 with two draws. His first comeback fight was a second-round knockout of Jeremy Bates in Dallas in August. In November, Holyfield won a decision over Frez Oquindo in San Antonio. The 33-year-old Maddalone (27-3, 19 KOs) is from New York City. The fight will mark Holyfield's second professional fight in Corpus Christi. He knocked out Jesse Shelby in 1986, and captured his first world title two fights later.
■ Soccer
S Korean makes peace
S Korean striker Lee Chun-soo has made peace with his club Ulsan after threatening to boycott them, claiming they scuttled his proposed move to Premier League side Wigan Athletic. Lee, who scored the winner for South Korea with a magnificent curling free-kick in their friendly with European champions Greece last week, retracted the threat and joined the team's training on Wednesday. "It was a misunderstanding but after meeting we have solved the problem. I spoke too hastily. I will watch my mouth and just play football," said Lee, 26. He added he was frustrated as his proposed move to Wigan failed to materialize last month. His club reportedly wanted a permanent deal while Wigan wanted the winger on loan.
■ Cricket
Samuels in Windies squad
All rounder Marlon Samuels, who is under investigation by the International Cricket Council (ICC) anti-corruption unit, has been included in the West Indies squad for the World Cup starting in the Caribbean next month. Samuels and 19-year-old Trinidad all rounder Kieron Pollard were both named in a 15-man squad announced on the West Indies Cricket Board Web site on Thursday. Three ICC officials met senior police officers in Nagpur on Monday after police said they had taped telephone conversations of Samuels allegedly passing confidential team information to a bookmaker.
■ Soccer
Night matches to resume
Serie A teams will be able to resume playing night matches, the Italian league president said on Thursday, as the country continued its recovery from the death of a policeman in fan rioting that forced officials to halt all play. League president Antonio Matarrese told reporters after meeting with police officials that night play will be back starting the Feb. 24-25 weekend. All matches were suspended after a policeman died on Feb. 2 in rioting outside Catania's stadium in Sicily, and night matches also were scrapped. Last week, games resumed and stadiums that were judged to have met new safety standards, already passed but not required to be in place until later this year, were allowed to admit fans.
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