■GOLF
Miyazato scolds fans
Japan’s top woman golfer Ai Miyazato has hit out at Japanese fans for applauding an error by a rival on the final day of a tournament last weekend. The world No. 9 described fans cheering when South Korean Jeon Mi-jeong’s approach splashed into the lake at the last hole of the Sankyo Ladies Open as “hurtful.” “It pained my heart very much,” Miyazato, who went on to capture her first title on the Japanese tour in three years, said on her Web site. “That clapping was a real disappointment,” said the 24-year-old, a winner on the US LPGA Tour and third-placed finisher at this year’s British Open.
■BASKETBALL
Yao battles tobacco
Basketball star Yao Ming has joined up with the wife of China’s vice president to lead an anti-tobacco campaign in the country with the world’s largest number of smokers, state media said on Tuesday. The NBA All-Star Houston Rockets center was named as an ambassador to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control and is expected to appear in public service announcements urging people not to smoke, Xinhua news agency said. Also named was folk singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the report said.
■BASKETBALL
NBA fines quiet Arenas
Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards has been fined US$25,000 by the NBA for failing to make himself available to the media for interviews, the league said in a statement on Tuesday. The Wizards were also fined US$25,000 for failing to ensure that its players comply with NBA media interview rules. NBA regulations explicitly state that teams must make players avaliable to the media at given times prior to and after games and also during daytime “shootaround” practice sessions.
■FOOTBALL
Cobbs ‘done,’ coach says
Miami Dolphins running back Patrick Cobbs has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury. “Patrick’s done,” said Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano when asked the status of his reserve running back. Cobbs suffered the injury during the fourth quarter of the Dolphins 31-27 win over AFC East rivals, the New York Jets, on Monday. The Dolphins regularly make use of three running backs in their wildcat formation and Cobbs has been part of that line-up alongside starters Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.
■BASEBALL
Former pitcher dies at 89
Larry Jansen, the winning pitcher for the New York Giants in the 1951 playoff game decided by Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” has died. He was 89. The San Francisco Giants said Jansen died at his home in Oregon on Saturday. Jansen spent nine years in the major leagues, making his biggest mark with the Giants during their pennant-winning season. He won 23 games in 1951, including one of the biggest in team — and baseball — history. Jansen, in relief of Sal Maglie, struck out two batters in the top of the ninth before the Giants rallied with four runs in the bottom half of the inning — three on Thomson’s homer off Ralph Branca — to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-4 in the third and deciding playoff game. He allowed Mickey Mantle’s first World Series hit — a bunt single in Game 2 of the 1951 Series — and gave up a double to Joe DiMaggio in the eighth inning of Game 6, the final at-bat of the Hall of Famer’s career.
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