■FIELD HOCKEY
Rain forces delays
Rain has wiped out the three Pool B games scheduled at the women’s field hockey World Cup. The postponed matches on Thursday were: South Africa-China, England-South Korea and Spain-Argentina. England and Argentina won their first two pool matches and were hoping to win three straight before the rain and chilly weather came. Tournament officials did not immediately say when the postponed matches would be played. The final and third-place game of the World Cup is Sept. 11.
■ICE HOCKEY
Sharks sign Niemi
The San Jose Sharks have signed free agent goaltender Antti Niemi to a one-year, US$2 million contract, the team said on Thursday. Niemi became the Chicago Blackhawks starter midway through last year’s season and went 26-7-4 in 39 games with a 2.25 goals-against average and seven shutouts. He then backstopped the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup since 1961 with a six-game series win against the Philadelphia Flyers. “Antti’s play last season speaks for itself,” Sharks general manager Doug Wilson told reporters. “Our goal this summer was to create the best goaltending unit we could and we feel we have successfully done that.” The 27-year-old Niemi became a restricted free agent on July 1 and took the Blackhawks to arbitration when the two sides could not reach agreement on a contract. An arbitrator awarded Niemi a US$2.75 million salary, and Chicago exercised its right to walk away from the award, making the goaltender an unrestricted free agent.
■DELHI GAMES
Bring your earplugs
Loved and loathed in equal measure, the drone of the vuvuzela will resonate in India for the first time at the Commonwealth Games next month. The plastic horn, which went on to become soccer’s World Cup soundtrack in South Africa this year, will be part of Delhi’s noisy celebration for the Oct. 3-14 multi-sports gathering, organizers said on Thursday. Even though the cacophony received a resounding thumbs-down in Europe, the chairman of the event’s official merchandising partner, Premier Brands, said the high decibel level should not be a problem in India. “In India we enjoy sports with lot of noise. We are not like the Europeans,” Suresh Kumar said yesterday. “The organizing committee only needs to ensure that the fans are allowed to enter the stadiums with the vuvuzelas and it is not perceived as a security issue.” Unlike the ones sold in South Africa, the vuvuzelas would be decorated in Indian colors and priced at a little less than US$4. The vuvuzelas are expected to be a hit in a country where loud celebrations are part of life and where cricket crowds are often so noisy that umpires struggle to detect edges.
■MOTORCYCLING
Baron dies aged 56
Motorcyclist Jean-Michel Baron died on Thursday at the age of 56, after 24 years spent in a vegetative state following a crash on the Dakar Rally. Baron was 31 when he fell heavily during his second Paris-Dakar, after which he spent several months in hospital before being taken home, where he lived for 23 years “in a vegetative state,” his wife, Jocelyne, said. “Motorbikes were his life,” she said of Baron, the French 250 Inter motorcross champion in 1980 who finished 20th riding a Honda in his first Paris-Dakar in 1985.
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