SOCCER
S Korea unveils Cup squad
There was no place for experienced forwards Park Chu-young, Kim Shin-wook or Lee Dong-gook in South Korea’s squad for the upcoming Asian Cup, as coach Uli Stielike went with just three out-and-out strikers for the Jan. 9 to Jan. 31 tournament in Australia. Under the Korea Football Association’s “Time for Change” slogan for the Cup, Stielike yesterday named uncapped forward Lee Jung-hyub in his 23-man squad, which features no fewer than 17 foreign-based players. South Korea, who have not won the continental tournament since 1960, will rely heavily on a quality midfield, with Swansea City playmaker Ki Sung-yueng supplying the ammunition to Bayer 04 Leverkusen wide man Son Heung-min and Bolton Wanderers winger Lee Chung-yong. Goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong, who endured a woeful FIFA World Cup in Brazil, was included, but Kim Jin-hyeon is expected to get the start between the posts. South Korea are to begin their campaign in Group A along with hosts Australia, Oman and Kuwait, kicking off against Oman on Jan. 10.
RUGBY UNION
Goode great for Wasps
Former England fly-half Andy Goode claimed a record individual 33-point haul as Wasps eased to a 48-16 English Premiership win over London Irish on Sunday in their first game at the Ricoh Arena. A crowd of 28,254 saw Wasps begin their new life in Coventry after their controversial move north from Adams Park with Goode, who was born in the city, stealing the show with a try, eight penalties and two conversions to exceed the highest individual record by a point. “What a day. Cliches are made for days like this... Christmas has come early. I’ve been a fair few times with friends to watch Coventry City play, so to run out at that arena is unbelievable,” the 34-year-old said. “I took a hammering all week from my little girl for missing five kicks last weekend. She made me change my boots and as I came off the field she said to me ‘you’re keeping those boots forever daddy.’” Joe Simpson, Elliot Daly and Andrea Masi also crossed to leave Wasps just four points adrift of the playoffs.
SKIING
China’s aerial team wins
China won the first-ever aerial team event on the freestyle FIS World Cup on Sunday to wrap up a successful weekend for the home nation inside the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing. The team of Jia Zongyang, Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu earned a total of 324.69 points to beat Russia by 2.10 points. Belarus was third with 310.03 points and the US fourth on 276.88. China also dominated Saturday’s individual events, with Qi and Xu winning the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively. The team event is new for this season, which each three-member team including at least one female athlete. China is hosting an increased number of winter sports events over the coming months to ramp up public interest for its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
RUGBY
Smith back in All Blacks
Former All Blacks coach Wayne Smith is to rejoin the world champions to bolster their bid to become the first team to win back-to-back Rugby World Cups. The reappointment of 57-year-old Smith as a specialist defense coach was confirmed yesterday, with head coach Steve Hansen saying they needed his “vast knowledge” of the game. “He is one of the most astute rugby coaches in world rugby and having worked with him in the past, we know just how valuable he is to any team he is involved in,” Hansen said. It will be Smith’s fourth time with the All Blacks.
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