■SOCCER
Deco wants to leave
Chelsea’s Portuguese midfielder Deco says he is unhappy at the London club and wants to leave, media reports said on Thursday. The Brazilian-born playmaker moved to Chelsea last year from Barcelona, but struggled to make an impact under Luiz Felipe Scolari and was then left out entirely by Guus Hiddink. “I did not like the experience at Chelsea. I want to find another solution and another challenge,” the 31-year-old was quoted as saying during a sports tournament at Matosinhos in northern Portugal. Last month, Deco admitted he was in talks with Inter Milan about a possible move to the north Italian club coached by former Porto boss Jose Mourinho. However, he declined to say if there had been any developments. “I am aware there is some interest but I can’t say any more about it,” he told reporters at the tournament. “It would be great to work with Mourinho,” he conceded, adding he would be delighted to resume collaboration with the manager who steered FC Porto to win the UEFA Cup in 2003 and the Champions League in 2004.
■SOCCER
Schwarzer player of the year
Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has been named Australia’s soccer player of the year after a superb season. The 36-year-old did not concede a single goal in Australia’s last seven World Cup qualifiers, ensuring the Socceroos were one of the first teams through to next year’s World Cup in South Africa. “It’s been a fantastic season,” said Schwarzer, now in his 16th season with the Socceroos. “Obviously you have dreams and ambitions in life and I’ve been very fortunate to live out my dream and along the way accomplish a lot of my life-long goals.” Midfielder Tim Cahill was voted by his peers as the Australian players’ player of the year.
■CRICKET
England crush India
England, the tournament favorites, and the West Indies enjoyed contrasting wins on the opening day of the women’s World Twenty20 here on Thursday. England, the world 50-over champions, crushed India by 10 wickets while the Windies squeezed past South Africa by just four runs. Chasing only 113 to win, England openers Sarah Taylor (50 not out) and Charlotte Edwards (61 not out) romped to victory with more than four overs to spare and with 13 fours and two sixes between them. India’s best score was 29 from Mithali Raj while England bowlers, 18-year-old student, Holly Colvin (3-20) and Nicky Shaw (2-28) kept the brakes on.
■BOXING
Pacman does his homework
Manny Pacquiao will be sitting at ringside to watch Miguel Cotto defend his welterweight crown today against Ghana’s Joshua Clottey, the Filipino superstar sizing up his potential next opponent. Puerto Rican star Cotto, 33-1 with 27 knockouts, will face Clottey, 35-2 with 20 knockouts, on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York — a date that has become a fight tradition for Cotto at Madison Square Garden. Pacquiao is considered boxing’s pound-for-pound champion after knocking out Britain’s Ricky Hatton in the second round last month at Las Vegas. “It was very good and a very strong moment for Pacquiao in that fight,” Cotto said. While fight fans hunger for a Pacquiao showdown against unbeaten US star Floyd Mayweather Jnr, who ends his retirement next month against Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez, it might be Cotto who climbs into the ring with “Pacman” next.
■CYCLING
Valverde leads Dauphine
Poland’s Sylvester Szmyd won Thursday’s grueling fifth stage of the Dauphine Libere cycling race in France as Spain’s Alejandro Valverde took the lead in the overall standings. Szmyd crossed the finish line on the Mont Ventoux summit of the 170km stage in 4 hours, 5 minutes and 4 seconds. Valverde took the leader’s yellow jersey after placing second in the stage with the same time. Australian Cadel Evans, who lost the yellow jersey to Valverde, placed sixth, crossing the finish line 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind the winner — and 16 seconds behind the Spaniard in the overall standings. “Today, I really had the legs you need to attack 10km from the finish line and go to the end,” Valverde said.
■BASEBALL
Fans want to keep Valentine
Fans supporting Bobby Valentine have gathered 100,000 signatures on a petition seeking to keep the American as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines beyond this year’s Japanese baseball season. The group said in a press release yesterday it would submit the petition at the head offices of the Marines on Monday. The signatures were gathered outside Lotte’s home stadium in Chiba where Marines fans have been holding demonstrations in support of the popular former New York Mets manager. Valentine, in his seventh season as manager of the Marines, had been told his contract will not be renewed at the end of the season. Team president Ryuzo Setoyama announced in the offseason that the team couldn’t afford Valentine after this season. Valentine, 59, led the team to the Japan Series championship in 2005 and has been a fan favorite since. Fans in the right field seats at Chiba Marine Stadium wear T-shirts saying “Bobby 2010” and wave huge signs with slogans like “No Bobby, No Marines,” and “Always Behind Bobby.”
■BASKETBALL
Michael Jordan jersey stolen
An autographed Michael Jordan jersey has been stolen from the home of San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker. The Bexar County, Texas, sheriff’s office says Parker’s manager reported the jersey missing last month. It had been taken from a gym under construction at Parker’s San Antonio home. Detectives found a listing for the jersey on Craigslist that was posted by Christopher James Carolan, 22, who worked for the security company hired to protect the home. Carolan had an outstanding warrant for burglary in a separate case. He was arrested and charged with burglary in the previous case and remained jailed on Thursday.
■SWIMMING
La Tourette wins 800m free
Chad La Tourette of the US held off a quartet of Australian swimmers to win the 800m freestyle on Thursday on the opening night of the Santa Clara International Grand Prix. La Tourette, a standout open water swimmer, finished first in 7 minutes, 53.56 seconds, bettering the meet record of 7:57.73 set by Olympian Erik Vendt in 2004. He was three-tenths of a second ahead of Australians Robert Hurley and Ryan Napoleon. Hurley touched in 7:53.87 and Napoleon was third in 7:54.44. Aussies Thomas Fraser-Holmes and Christopher Ashwood were fourth and fifth, respectively. Amber McDermott won the 1,500m free by more than eight seconds, touching in 16:38.06. Jennifer Narum was second in 16:46.33 and Jamie Marks third in 16:51.15.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was