■ Swimming
Phelps caught driving drunk
Michael Phelps, the American swimming phenomenon who won six gold medals at the Athens Olympics, has been arrested and charged with drunk driving. Police said Phelps, 19, was arrested last week in Salisbury, Maryland, after running a stop sign and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drinking under the legal age of 21. "I made a mistake," Phelps said Monday night. "Getting into a car with anything to drink is wrong, dangerous and unacceptable. I'm 19, but no matter how old you are, you should take responsibility for your actions, which I will do. I'm extremely sorry." If convicted of the charge of driving under the influence, Phelps faces a year in jail and a US$1,000 fine. Phelps, who also won two bronze medals this summer in Athens, returned home to multimillion-dollar endorsement deals for numerous companies, which his arrest might put in jeopardy.
■ Soccer
Greece players vie for award
Six Greek players have been named in an initial list of 50 for the European Footballer of the Year award, sports daily L'Equipe reported on its Web site on Monday. Traianos Dellas, Angelos Charisteas, Michalis Kapsis, Antonis Nikopolidis, Yourkas Seitaridis and Theodoros Zagorakis are in line for the prestigious continental award after Greece made history with their Euro 2004 triumph in Portugal in June. Six French players, including Real Madrid's Zinedine Zidane and the Arsenal duo Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira, are also in the running for the award, along with seven Brazilians. The winner of the Golden Ball as the European Footballer of the Year is decided by a poll of European soccer journalists from 52 countries.
■ Golf
China to host Johnnie Walker
China will host the US$2.3 million Johnnie Walker Classic next year, organizers announced on Tuesday, the richest golf tournament ever to be staged in the world's most populous nation. The prestigious tri-sanctioned event featuring the best players from the European, Asian and Australasian tours will be staged at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Pine Valley Course in Beijing from April 21 to April 24. It is the first time in the 14-year history of one of Asia's biggest golf tournaments that the event has been held in China. The Johnnie Walker was first staged in Hong Kong in 1990. Over the past 14 years, the event has been played in eight different Asian cities on over 10 different golf courses. Past winners of the event include some of the best known names in international golf, with Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman all getting their names on the trophy.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
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