NASCAR
Edwards rivalry heats up
Driver Carl Edwards passed on one chance to pay back rival Kyle Busch in NASCAR in Fontana, California. Given another shot, it’s more apparent that he might not hold back. The recent spat between Edwards and Busch started in Phoenix, Arizona, where Busch sent Edwards, the polesitter, into the wall. Edwards said afterward that he owed Busch one, even though Busch apologized after the race. The two hashed it out at Las Vegas the following week, but Edwards was still thinking about it when he got close to Busch last week at Bristol. Edwards chose not to get into Busch there, but again brought up the owe-you-one sentiment. Busch and Edwards are still talking about the payback issue in Fontana, so it could get interesting if they were to come close late in yesterday’s Auto Club 400.
SOCCER
Beckam, Galaxy stomped
David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy suffered a humbling 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday. Beckham, captaining the Galaxy in the absence of Landon Donovan away on international duty, saw his side go a goal down inside three minutes to an Andy Williams strike. A Javier Morales penalty put Salt Lake 2-0 up in just the 10th minute and then the Argentine playmaker took advantage of a dozing Beckham to lose his marker at a throw-in and fire home a superb shot from 20 yards out to make it 3-0 four minutes before the break. Paulo Junior made it 4-0 for Real in the 68th minute before, Colombian Juan Pablo Angel got a consolation for the Galaxy with his first goal for the club, getting on the end of a curling free-kick from Beckham.
SKI JUMP
Fans honor Polish legend
Poland’s president and thousands of fans gathered in the southern ski resort of Zakopane on Saturday to watch former ski jump world champion Adam Malysz take his last leap during festivities that marked the end of his career. The 33-year-old Malysz is Poland’s best loved sportsman after 15 years of success, winning World Cup titles in 2001, 2003 and 2007. He also finished with four gold medals and a bronze at the world championships and three silvers at the Olympics. The events, attended by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and his wife Anna, began with Zakopane awarding Malysz honorary citizenship.
BASKETBALL
Taiwanese awarded MOP
A Taiwanese basketball player was named Most Outstanding Player (MOP) in the US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II basketball championship yesterday, even though his team lost in the title game. Chang Tsung-hsien scored 35 points, the fourth-highest personal score in the championship’s history, for Brigham Young University-Hawaii in a 71-68 loss to Kentucky’s Bellarmine University, to become the first player from a losing team to be named MOP since 1998. Chang, a 1.92m shooting guard who goes by the nickname of “Jet,” tallied 78 points in two games in the Final Four and is the first Taiwanese player to win the MOP honor. He also shot 14-of-17 from the field and made seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 43 points in a 110-101 win over West Liberty University in the national semi-final on Friday. Chang, who hails from Yilan county, led Hsin-rong High School to Taiwan’s high school league title in 2006.
NASCAR
Ferrie challenges Lawrie
Kenneth Ferrie shot a round of 60 to equal the European Tour record and climb to within one stroke of leader Paul Lawrie with one day to go at the Andalucian Open on Saturday. Ferrie hit eight birdies and eagled the 12th hole to jump 43 spots and move into contention. “It was unspectacular, but it added up to a spectacular score,” the Englishman said. “You’d expect somebody with such a low score to have holed putts and hit spectacular shots, but it was just a very steady round. Lots of fairways, lots of greens and a lot of wedge shots to four or five feet which I managed to knock in.” Only 13 other golfers have shot a round of 60 on the European Tour. Lawrie proved steady again and hit five birdies to move to 12-under overall. The former Open winner has bogeyed only once in three rounds. England’s Mark Foster is level with Ferrie after six birdies within eight holes on the back side.
SOCCER
Piazon signs with Chelsea
Sao Paulo’s teenage midfielder Lucas Piazon, who broke the net when he scored for Brazil in the South American under-17 championship, has agreed to join Chelsea. “The player has signed a pre-contract agreement and is expected to join us in January 2012 on a long-term deal,” the Premier League champions said on their Web site on Friday. Piazon has scored two goals in three games in the South American under-17 championship now being held in Ecuador. The 17-year-old grabbed the winner for Brazil against Venezuela and broke the net when he struck in a defeat by Paraguay.
CRICKET
Ponting considers future
Ricky Ponting said yesterday he will decide his international future over the next few days, but insisted he still has a lot to offer Australian cricket. The captain’s return home after Australia’s World Cup quarter-final elimination by India corresponds with calls for his replacement as Australia’s Test and one-day skipper. Ponting, whose captaincy has been under attack since Australia’s Ashes series debacle against England in January, scored a fighting 104, but it was not enough to prevent India from knocking the champions out in Thursday’s quarter-final in Ahmedabad, India. He has now presided over the end of Australia’s 12-year run as World Cup champions after his third Ashes series defeat as captain to England. Ponting, 36, who is Australia’s greatest run-scorer in Tests, said he didn’t believe now was the right time to retire from international cricket. However, he said he was prepared to play on in the national team without the captaincy and drop down the batting order if he — along with Cricket Australia — believed that was the best way forward.
SWIMMING
Krizko banned for two years
The world swimming federation (FINA) has banned Slovak swimmer Lubos Krizko for two years after he failed a doping test at the European championships last year. FINA announced on its Web site that its Doping Panel had taken the sanction after a hearing on Dec. 13 examined Krizko’s positive test for the banned drug Tamoxifen, a hormonal therapy commonly used for breast cancer. “The FINA Doping Panel has decided according to FINA rules a period of two years ineligibility, starting on Sept. 22, 2010,” it said. Krizko finished sixth in the 50m backstroke at the championships in Budapest last August.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but