CRICKET
NZ seeks clarification
New Zealand Cricket is demanding clarification from the sport’s governing body over a contentious call by TV umpire Nigel Llong that swung the momentum in the first ever day-night cricket Test. Australia won by three-wickets late on Sunday, helped by a 22-run first-innings lead that likely would not have existed if Nathan Lyon had been dismissed before he had scored on Saturday. New Zealand coach Mike Hesson yesterday said he was confident with the technology available for the Decision Review System, indicating his problem was how it was applied. With Australia reeling at 118-8 in reply to 202, New Zealand appealed for a catch when Lyon apparently brushed the ball with his bat as he attempted a sweep shot. Llong rejected evidence from Hotspot, which was designed to detect contact between bat and ball, because it was not backed up by other technology.
SOCCER
Khalil is Asian of Year
UAE sharpshooter Ahmed Khalil stunned compatriot Omar Abdulrahman and China’s Zheng Zhi on Sunday as he was named Asian Player of the Year at a glittering ceremony in India. The 24-year-old former youth player of the year could hardly believe his good fortune when his name emerged from the envelope at the Bollywood-themed show in Gurgaon, near New Delhi. Much of the smart money had been on 2013 winner Zheng, after he led Guangzhou Evergrande to their second AFC Champions League title in three years against Khalil’s Al Ahli last week, but instead it was Khalil who accepted the trophy from Asian soccer boss and FIFA presidential hopeful Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in front of hundreds of delegates. “My feeling is something I cannot explain... This award means a lot to me. This achievement is not for Ahmed, it’s for all the people in the Emirates,” Khalil told reporters.
SOCCER
Vasco avoid relegation
A flooded stadium forced Vasco da Gama players to take the long way to the pitch through a cheering crowd of fans on Sunday, but that merely inspired them to a 1-0 win that kept their hopes of avoiding relegation alive until the final day of the season. Kick off for the penultimate game of the season against Santos was delayed an hour after torrential rain fell in Rio de Janeiro, leaving the pitch waterlogged and the dressing rooms under water. The water left the tunnel to the pitch unpassable and the Vasco players were forced to take the back route via the terracing where hundreds of fans descended to cheer the players onto the field. The surface was eventually given the okay and former Paris Saint-Germain forward Nene got the winner in the 44th minute of the first half.
RUGBY UNION
Goromaru statue unveiled
Japan is looking to cash in on the rugby fever that swept the nation in recent weeks by unveiling a lifesize bronze statue of World Cup star Ayumu Goromaru. However, fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the golden-colored figure — crouching with its fingers clasped together in the player’s trademark kick routine — will have to be quick. After being unveiled by Goromaru himself yesterday it is to decorate Tokyo’s Christmas illuminations for a month only and be removed again afterward. “They’ve reproduced my fingers in real detail,” Japan’s latest sporting pinup told reporters. “When I first heard about the statue, I kind of wished they had statues of the whole Japan team.”
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