CRICKET
Squad remains unnamed
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says it needs “further consideration relating to the clearance of players” before announcing a 30-man preliminary squad for the World Cup. All 30-player squads must be sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC) by Sunday. They will later be trimmed to a final 15-man squad for the tournament in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which starts on Feb. 19. Pakistan batsman Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are currently suspended by the ICC under its code of conduct over “spot-fixing” allegations. The players will face a hearing next month in Doha, Qatar. The PCB has also deferred announcing a squad to play six one-day internationals against New Zealand, which starts at Wellington on Jan. 22.
SOCCER
Mancini hopes to keep Tevez
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will hold talks with unsettled striker Carlos Tevez today and said he hoped the Argentine would stay at the club despite handing in a transfer request. The 26-year-old City captain did not travel with the team to play Juventus in the Europa League yesterday, but has been training with the rest of the squad not required in Italy. “I haven’t spoken to him yet. He is our player and I hope he continues to play for us and score for us,” Mancini told a televised news conference on Wednesday. “I will speak with him on Friday.”
BASEBALL
Feller dies of leukemia
Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Feller, a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians whose sizzling fastball earned him the nickname “Rapid Robert,” died on Wednesday in Cleveland, Ohio, from leukemia, the team said. He was 92. Feller broke in with the Indians at age 17 in 1936 and his powerful fastball, clocked at over 100mph, made him the game’s greatest strikeout pitcher over an 18-season career interrupted for nearly four seasons for military service. In his time he became baseball’s undisputed strikeout king, leading the American League seven times, posted six 20-win seasons, threw three no-hitters and led the Indians to the World Series crown in 1948. Feller compiled a record of 266-162 in a career that ended in 1956.
RUGBY UNION
Cup tops revenue records
The Rugby World Cup is already the highest-grossing event in New Zealand’s history, with more than nine months still to go before the tournament begins, organizers said yesterday. Rugby NZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said 864,000 tickets had been sold for the tournament, which will run from Sept. 9 to Oct. 23 next year, generating NZ$166 million (US$122.5 million) in ticket revenue. Snedden said plans to sell 1.45 million tickets were on track, eclipsing the nation’s previous highest grossing event, the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour, which netted NZ$24 million in revenue. A Rugby NZ 2011 spokesman said the revenue generated was a record for all events held in New Zealand, not just sporting events. “There’s never been anything of this scale held in this country,” he said.
SWIMMING
Relay team breaks record
The Chinese women’s swimming team powered their way to the first world record of the FINA World Short Course Championships in Dubai on Wednesday. Chen Qian, Tang Yi, Liu Jing and Zhu Qianwei surged to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay in a time of 7:35.94 to cut a massive three seconds off the previous mark.
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