■BASEBALL
Boone back after surgery
Houston Astros infielder Aaron Boone was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday, five months after undergoing open heart surgery. The 36-year-old, who had surgery on March 26 to correct a defect, joined the team last weekend in Arizona after playing 11 games in a minor league rehabilitation assignment. “What Aaron has accomplished is amazing,” Astros general manager Ed Wade told the team’s Web site. Boone told a news conference in March he would need surgery to correct a condition that developed while he was a student at the University of Southern California. Subsequent tests indicated an acceleration in his condition, prompting the decision to operate. The procedure included an aortic valve replacement.
■GOLF
Yang sees long road to No. 1
Despite becoming Asia’s first Major winner, South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun believes it will be another 20 years before a player from the region becomes world No. 1. The 37-year-old posted one of the biggest upsets in golf history when he defeated Tiger Woods by three strokes to win the US PGA last month. His victory was seen as a huge breakthrough for Asian golf, but Yang is not getting carried away. “There’s still a long time before a male Asian player will top the golf world,” he told the Straits Times in Singapore. “We’re probably two decades away from the time that Asian players will have as much of a foothold as their female counterparts have.” Asian women are well represented in the upper echelons of the sport, with nine of the current world’s top 20 from the region. In contrast, there are only three Asian men in the top 50 — Yang at 33, India’s Jeev Milkha Singh at 43 and Japan’s Shingo Katayama at 49. Asian fans have the chance to watch Yang go up against Woods once again at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November, an event the South Korean won three years ago by beating the American world No. 1.
■BASKETBALL
Rubio opts to stay in Spain
Talented teen Ricky Rubio has opted to stay in Spain rather than make a move to the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the US club said on Tuesday. Rubio, 18, had said this year that he wanted to play in the NBA, and the Timberwolves made him the fifth overall selection in the NBA draft in June. But Timberwolves president David Khan said the player had backed out of a deal negotiated over the weekend to bring him to the US from Spanish team DKV Joventut. Instead he will move to Barcelona. Rubio “reaffirmed that it was his intention to join us in Minnesota two years from now when he will be 20,” Khan said in a statement posted on the Timberwolves Web site. Khan said the Timberwolves still hoped to have Rubio on board in two years, adding that a little more maturity would likely stand the player in good stead when eventually arrives in the NBA.
■BASEBALL
Tazawa rejoins Red Sox
Japanese pitcher Junichi Tazawa rejoined the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday after a few days in the minors. Tazawa was sent down over the weekend but was recalled when Major League Baseball teams could expand their rosters. The 23-year-old righty made his MLB debut last month and went 2-3 with a 6.65 ERA for Boston. He is set to start on Saturday against the Chicago White Sox. Daisuke Matsuzaka, out since June 20 with a right shoulder injury, is scheduled to make his third minor league rehab start on Friday for Pawtucket.
RSS