Thu, Oct 08, 2009 page19

• Sports Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■BOXING

  Kameda demands rematch

  Japanese boxer Daiki Kameda is demanding a rematch with World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight champion Denkaosen Kaowichit after losing a close title bout to the Thai veteran, his manager said yesterday. Denkaosen won Tuesday’s match in Osaka on a 2-0 decision as two judges scored 115-113 in his favor while a third judge called it a 114-114 draw. “We were not convinced. We thought he [Kameda] was ahead by three points or so,” Noriyuki Igarashi, head of Kameda’s stable, told a news conference. Igarashi added that his side would submit a written request for a rematch and a video recording of the bout to the WBA. Alan Kim, who served as the WBA supervisor at the fight, said he would “strongly” propose that a rematch be held this year. There was no knockdown in the 12-round bout at the Osaka Central Gymnasium in Kameda’s hometown as the 33-year-old champion kept the 11th-ranked challenger at bay with his one-two combination. In the late rounds, he thwarted Kameda’s attacks with crafty clinching.

  ■BASEBALL

  Valentine fans protest exit

  Bobby Valentine, the only baseball manager to lead teams to championship games in the US and Japan, is ending his second stint with the Chiba Lotte Marines with fans protesting the decision not to renew his contract. Valentine, who has a street, a beer and a burger named after him in Japan, on Tuesday night thanked Marines fans in a tearful farewell. He helmed the team to victory in the 2005 Japan Series, five years after taking the New York Mets to the World Series. Banners criticizing team officials have filled the stands since Lotte Group, owner of South Korea’s largest department-store chain, announced before the season it wasn’t renewing Valentine’s contract. More than 100,000 fans signed a petition asking for him to be brought back, the second time he has left amid protests. He was fired in 1995 after one season, despite leading the Marines to its first winning record in 10 years. Valentine returned for a second stint with the Marines in 2004 and a year later led the team to its first title in 31 years. This year, he’s remained popular through a losing season as the team headed for a fifth-place finish, with fans waving “Bobby” flags and buying souvenir merchandise.

  ■CYCLING

  Comardo accepts ban

  The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said cyclist Mitch Comardo has accepted a two-year suspension from the sport after testing positive for several prohibited substances. USADA said on Tuesday that a urine sample collected out of competition from Comardo on Aug. 24 contained the estrogen blocker Tamoxifen and its metabolite 4-hydroxytamoxifen, hormone antagonists and modulators, the fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin, and an anabolic agent.

  ■FOOTBALL

  Favre draws most viewers

  Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre’s match-up on Monday against his former team the Green Bay Packers was the most watched sports event ever on cable television in the US, network ESPN said. Favre’s first game against the team he anchored for 16 years ended in a 30-23 win for the Vikings and was watched in 15,136,000 homes with an estimated 21,839,000 viewers, the network said in a statement. The game, in which Favre became the only quarterback to defeat all 32 NFL teams, beat the previous cable viewership record, ESPN’s Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football broadcast of Sept. 15 last year, which was watched in 12,953,000 homes.
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