■ OLYMPICS
Arrows to fly at Lord’s
Cricket will make way for archery at the historic Lord’s ground in two years’ time after London 2012 organizers got the go-ahead for their plans on Monday. Lord’s, the spiritual home of world cricket, will be temporarily transformed into an Olympic archery venue with 5,000 seats installed on the lush green outfield. The archery is provisionally scheduled to run from July 27 to Aug. 3, in the middle of the English cricket season, but Lord’s executives believe disruption to the calendar will be minimal. Archers will fire their arrows from in front of the Lord’s pavilion toward the space-age media center that is one of London’s most recognizable structures.
■ GOLF
Pavin faces tough decision
US captain Corey Pavin has four picks and one tough decision to fill out his Ryder Cup team. Pavin already has eight players who earned their way onto the team after the PGA Championship, then had the next three weeks to see who distinguished themselves as an obvious pick. Tiger Woods? That should be an easy one. Asked about it, Woods said, “I think he has my number.” Most indications are that Zach Johnson, who won at Colonial this year and has been playing well since the PGA Championship, will get another pick. Stewart Cink, last year’s British Open champion who has played on the last four teams, also is expected to get chosen.
■ SOCCER
Kuyt to miss Euro qualifier
Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt is injured and will miss Holland’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Finland on Tuesday, Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk reported. “I think he could be out for several weeks,” van Marwijk told UEFA’s official site after the player suffered a shoulder problem in training Monday. The injury is also bad news for Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson as he prepares his team for Sunday’s Premier League visit to Anfield by Manchester United. Holland, the beaten World Cup finalists who could also be without Stuttgart defender Khalid Boulahrouz for the fixture in Rotterdam, began their campaign to qualify for Euro 2012 in stirring fashion with a 5-0 drubbing of San Marino last Friday.
■ FOOTBALL
Revis ends holdout
All-star cornerback Darrelle Revis and the New York Jets agreed to a new contract on Monday paving the way for him to end his 36-day holdout. US newspapers reported the deal to be a four-year, US$46 million contract. Revis agreed to a new contract late on Sunday night and took an early morning flight on Monday from his home in Florida so he could practice with the team ahead of their season opener next Monday against Baltimore. Revis began his holdout on Aug. 1. The club slapped him with almost US$600,000 in fines for holding out and his agent said the money would go to charity.
■OLYMPICS
It’s relatively safe to curl
At least 10 percent of athletes at this year’s Winter Olympics sustained an injury and another seven percent fell ill, researchers reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine yesterday. The most dangerous sports were bobsleigh, ice hockey, short track, alpine freestyle and snowboard cross, which notched up injury rates of between 15 and 35 percent depending on the discipline. The risk was lowest for Nordic skiing, luge, curling, speed skating and freestyle moguls, where fewer than five percent of participants got hurt. The luge event, however, was marked by the death of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set