SOCCER
Zlatan gets his own verb
Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic has already written his name large in his country’s sporting history books and now he is in the Swedish dictionary as well. The Swedish Language Council has included the verb zlatanera — meaning “to dominate” — in its list of new words from this year, it said on its Web site. The verb “to zlatan” was originally coined by a satirical TV show in France, where Ibrahimovic plays for Paris Saint-Germain. The word has been in common use in Swedish ever since. Known for his spectacular goals, the muscular forward scored four times against England last month, including with an outrageous overhead kick, as Sweden came back to win 4-2 in the first international at the new Friends Arena in Stockholm.
BASEBALL
Urbina returns after jail spell
Former major league pitcher Ugueth Urbina returned to baseball on Friday after serving seven-and-a-half years in prison for the attempted murder of five workers on his family’s ranch. Before taking the field in his native Venezuela to play for the Lions of Caracas, Urbina described himself as “more mature” and said he was “very excited to play baseball again.” “I’m excited to be here,” Urbina told reporters at the University Stadium in Caracas, where the Lions played the Zulia Eagles. The 38-year-old pitcher was released from prison on Sunday after serving roughly half of his 14-year sentence for attempted murder during a dispute over a gun on Oct. 16, 2005. Urbina was found guilty of attacking and injuring workers with a machete. Several other men participated in the attack at his family’s ranch, located about 40km from Caracas. Urbina, who pitched for the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, has repeatedly denied involvement in the incident that landed him in prison, saying he was sleeping at the time of the attack. A two-time All-Star, Urbina saved 237 big league games from 1995-2005. He had two saves in the 2003 World Series to help the Marlins beat the New York Yankees, and last pitched in the majors with the Phillies in 2005.
BOXING
Benitez hospitalized
Puerto Rican boxing great Wilfred Benitez has been hospitalized after family members worried he might have suffered a stroke. Yvonne Benitez said that her brother would remain under observation for 72 hours. She said on Friday that the family was awaiting medical tests results, but that the 54-year-old Benitez was doing well and reading newspapers and magazines. Benitez is the youngest fighter to ever win a world title, at 17 years old, but he has struggled with traumatic brain injuries later in life. He was previously hospitalized in October 1996 after being found unconscious at home and currently uses a wheelchair.
SOCCER
Davids takes over at Barnet
Former Dutch international Edgar Davids has taken over as sole head coach at English League Two club Barnet after the departure of Mark Robson, with whom he previously shared the role. Davids, 39, joined Barnet in October as joint head coach alongside Robson, but the club have struggled this season and currently lie three points above the relegation zone. “Edgar Davids will continue in his role as head coach and will take full responsibility for all first team footballing matters,” Barnet said on their Web site.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier