■CHESS
Kasparov, Karpov face off
Garry Kasparov said his re-match with old foe Anatoli Karpov in Spain, which was due to begin yesterday, would focus attention on the game again 25 years after the two masters’ first battle. “The duel will put chess in the spotlight once again, as it did 25 years ago,” Kasparov, 46, told the Spanish daily El Pais. Both players, considered among the greatest masters of the game, were still capable of playing “high-quality chess,” he added. The match in Valencia comes a quarter of a century after their epic world championship duel in Moscow, which dragged on for five months before it was called off with no winner. The new match will have 12 games — four semi-rapid and eight rapid. The match was due to officially get under way yesterday with both players facing local personalities, but the real action begins today when Kasparov and Karpov, 58, play their first match of the series. Kasparov acknowledged that the match will not carry the same suspense as the 1984 Moscow showdown when the game was halted by chess authorities who cited health grounds though both players said they wanted to continue. Kasparov also called for the promotion of chess saying the game could have an “outstanding” social role “in schools, as a prevention for Alzheimer’s.”
■VOLLEYBALL
Coach in trouble for ‘beating’
The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) wants national volleyball coach Lee Sang-yeol to face criminal charges after a badly bruised player held a news conference to accuse Lee of beating him up. The KOC also said in a statement yesterday that South Korea head coach Kim Ho-chul should be dismissed for allowing the incident to happen and said it was determined to eradicate violence in sport. The Korea Volleyball Association (KVA) announced later yesterday it had sacked Kim. International Park Chul-woo had appeared at a news conference on Friday sporting heavy bruising on his face and marks on his rib cage and said Lee had beaten him while his teammates looked on.
■TENNIS
Safina still ranked No. 1
Dinara Safina stayed ahead of the Williams sisters Serena and Venus in the WTA tennis rankings released yesterday. The Russian has 8,340 points, with Serena Williams on 7,807 and sister Venus on 6,645. US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark continued to move up the rankings, improving to a career-best fifth, one behind Elena Dementieva of Russia who gained a place to fourth. Fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova slipped two places to sixth, while the remaining positions in the leading 10 remained unchanged. The highest-ranked Taiwanese player is Chan Yung-jan at 122 with Chang Kai-chen moving from 145 to 140.
■BASEBALL
Catcher hurt hailing homer
Seattle Mariners catcher Rob Johnson found out it pays to be cautious when celebrating at home plate. Johnson was unavailable for Sunday’s Major League Baseball game against the New York Yankees after spraining his left ankle in the celebration in the wake of Ichiro Suzuki’s game-winning home run on Friday night. Johnson was apparently jumping up and down in the batter’s box and rolled his ankle in a hole in the dirt where batters dig in their shoes. Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said Johnson was enduring some teasing by teammates.
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