Print

Mail

wiki links

Sports Briefs

■ BOXING
Bute unbeaten, seizes title
Unbeaten Lucian Bute stopped Alejandro Berrio in the 11th round in Montreal on Friday to seize the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight title. The Romanian-born, Quebec-based Bute, who opened his pro career with 15 consecutive knockouts, improved to 21-0 with 17 victories inside the distance. The 27-year-old southpaw rocked Colombia's Berrio with a left, then followed up with a barrage of blows before referee Marlon Wright called a halt. Berrio, 31, was making his first defense of the title he won in March when he travelled to Germany and knocked out Robert Stieglitz, a boxer who had beaten him in 2005. Berrio fell to 26-6. Bute had become the mandatory challenger for Berrio's belt with a 12-round unanimous decision over Australian Sakio Bika on June 15.

■ TENNIS
Mirza ends season early
India's Sania Mirza has opted to end her season early to recover from injury and prepare for next year. "It's been a long and hard year for me where I had to make comebacks from two serious injuries and surgery," Mirza told the Times of India newspaper yesterday. "I am mentally tired and my body is crying out for a break. I am looking forward to a rest and then a great season next year." The 20-year-old had planned to end her season after playing in Austria and Canada in the coming weeks but a strained abductor muscle picked up in her first round loss at the Zurich Open on Monday has forced the world No. 30 to revise her plans. The Indian No. 1 underwent surgery in March after suffering a ligament injury in her right knee at the Qatar Open.

■ ICE HOCKEY
Lemieux finally getting paid
Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux will get US$21 million as part of the team's settlement of its 1998 bankruptcy. "He's finally getting paid from his playing contract that he signed in 1992," team spokesman Tom McMillan said on Friday. Lemieux was owed US$32 million in deferred compensation from that contract when he retired as a player in 1997. But the team sought bankruptcy protection the next year, after running up US$120 million in debt under former owners Howard Baldwin and Roger Marino. Lemieux put together a group that purchased the bankrupt team and agreed to discount his debt claim to US$25 million. Lemieux took a US$20 million equity stake in the team and was paid US$5 million, which he also invested in the franchise. Lemieux won't get additional money from his playing contract, and is believed to be the only unsecured creditor to get less than 100 percent of money owed, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported on Friday.

■ CYCLING
Biological passports mulled
The creation of a biological passport will top the agenda at a two-day international meeting on doping and cycling in Paris. The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it planned to collect blood and urine samples from all riders next year to create a medical profile that would then be compared to the data registered in doping tests. UCI representatives, French Minister of Sports Roselyne Bachelot, Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president Dick Pound will meet tomorrow and on Tuesday to tackle the issue of doping in cycling. Round tables will take place at the French Olympic National Committee's headquarters.

■ SOCCER
Drogba regrets comments
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba said he regretted telling France Football magazine this week that he wanted to quit the Premier League team. "On reflection, I regret making the comments I made in a recent interview," the Ivory Coast international told the club's Web site on Friday. "I am a Chelsea player and will be 100 percent committed and supportive to my manager, my team mates and the club. I will not be discussing my future any further until I meet privately with the club at the end of the season."

■ SOCCER
Duisburg end winless streak
MSV Duisburg ended a five-game winless streak with a 2-1 win against Energie Cottbus. Boern Schlicke's free kick in the seventh minute was deflected in while captain Ivica Grlic bent his attempt over the wall for the winner in the 74th. Eight minutes earlier, Timo Rost had equalized for Cottbus. The victory left Duisburg in 16th place. Cottbus remained last. Duisburg were without six injured regulars and had to play regional league defender Georges Ndoum.

■ RUGBY UNION
Counselor helps All Blacks
Dejected All Blacks were reported yesterday to be undergoing grief counseling to help them come to grips with their shock loss in the rugby World Cup quarter-finals. New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs said it was imperative steps were taken to ensure the players were able to move on mentally as soon as possible, the Yahoo!Xtra Web site reported. The All Blacks "mental skills coach," sports psychologist Gilbert Enoka, has been in contact with the squad members after the loss to France which resulted in New Zealand's worst-ever World Cup finish. "Yes. We are making sure no-one is isolated or left alone," Hobbs told Yahoo!Xtra. He described the loss to France as "very, very gut-wrenching."

■ SOCCER
Maradona criticizes wins
Diego Maradona criticized Argentina's style of play on Friday, saying there were too many backward passes. Argentina have adopted a patient passing game under coach Alfio Basile, centred on playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, but Maradona said that too often the ball went backwards. Basile's team have won their first two matches in the 2010 World Cup qualifying competition, 2-0 at home to Chile last Saturday and 2-0 in Venezuela on Tuesday, but the 100 percent start was not enough for Maradona. "The team has not left me satisfied," he said in a television interview. "I'm tired and bored of watching them pass the ball backwards." "They gave it to Riquelme, he played it backwards, they gave it to [Javier] Mascherano, he played it backwards, it's no good at all," he said. "If you're beating Germany or Brazil 2-0 in a final, then that's fine, but not here."

■ SOCCER
Livorno directors charged
Two Livorno directors were charged by the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) on Friday for "using non institutional channels" to discover in advance the match officials for the Serie A game at Napoli on Sept. 26. Italian referees' chief Pierluigi Collina changed the officials assigned to the match after the name of the original referee was posted on Livorno's Web site before it had been announced. The FIGC said on its Web site that it had charged Carlo Truccolo and Carlo Vivaldi with "violation of the obligation to loyalty, correctness and probity." It also charged the club, bottom of Serie A, with involvement in the affair.


This story has been viewed 702 times.