■ Hockey
Fears of NHL shut-down
Wayne Gretzky fears the NHL could be shut down for as long as two years if a labor deal is not reached soon. Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer and part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, said an "even more alarming" scenario could await the league if the lockout is not settled in the next few days. "I'm scared we could be looking at a year, year-and-a-half, two years, not just three months like a lot of people thought back in September," Gretzky said at a news con-ference. The NHL board of governors is to meet on Jan. 14 in New York.
■ Soccer
Tsunami victims honored
French and Italian footballers will show their solidarity with the victims of the Asian tsunamis this week, observing a minute's silence and collec-ting donations. All 64 clubs playing in the French Cup will pay tribute to the victims of the devastating tsunamis, the French football federation announced on Monday. "A minute's silence will be ob-served before kick-off at all games ... to show solidarity with the victims," the fed-eration said. Both Paris St. Germain and Marseille football clubs said they would collect donations for charities helping those affected by the disaster that has killed an estimated 150,000 people around the Indian Ocean.
■ Athletics
De Lima enters marathon
Brazil's Olympic bronze medalist Vanderlei De Lima will take part in Japan's Lake Biwa Marathon in March, organizers said on Monday. De Lima chose the March 6 race as his first marathon since battling to third at the Olympics in August after being attacked by a crazed spectator while leading in Athens. The 35-year-old lost about 20 seconds after being shoved off the road by defrocked Irish priest with about 6km to run. Italian Stefano Baldini went on to win gold. De Lima, honored as Brazil's sportsman of the year by the Brazilian Olym-pic Committee (COB) last month, won the 1996 Tokyo Marathon.
■ Rally Racing
Gordon wins Dakar stage
American Robby Gordon won his second stage of the Dakar Rally and regained the overall lead on Monday's trek from Rabat to Agadir in Morocco. Gordon, who also won the first stage of this year's two-continent race, covered the day's 123km timed section of stage four in one hour, 14 minutes and one second in his Volks-wagen Touareg. Defending champion Steph-ane Peterhansel of France was second in his Mitsubishi in a time of 1:14.54, with France's Bruno Saby third in 1:15:09, also in a VW Touareg. Overall, Gor-don has a 59-second lead over Peterhansel and a lead of one minute, 14 seconds over Saby.
The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso before their 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League raised further questions about his future. Arsenal remain perfect in this season’s competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain were held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao. The clash between Madrid and City was the standout game of the round amid reports this week that Alonso had lost control of the locker room. Speculation over his position is likely to intensify after the latest
‘HIGH STANDARD’: The Thunder are on track for a Finals-Cup double after they scored 22 three-pointers in equaling the best 25-game start to a season in NBA history The Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday bagged a 16th straight victory, thrashing the Phoenix Suns 138-89 to romp into an NBA Cup semi-final clash with the San Antonio Spurs, who stunned the Los Angeles Lakers 132-119. NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points to lead the reigning NBA champions Thunder, who improved to 24-1 to equal the best 25-game start to a season in league history. They dominated from start to finish to book their place in the final four of the in-season tournament in Las Vegas, where they are tomorrow to take on the Spurs. The New York Knicks and
TOP OF THE TABLE: Evann Guessand put the visitors ahead early in the game and Flavius Daniliuc equalized before Youri Tielemans got the winner in the second half Aston Villa on Thursday extended their winning streak to eight games in all competitions with a 2-1 victory against Basel in the UEFA Europa League to secure at least a playoff spot. Villa were tied with Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Go Ahead Eagles 2-1, and Midtjylland, 1-0 winners over Genk, atop the standings of the second-tier European competition on 15 points with five wins from six games. They have bounced back from a poor start to the season and are third in the Premier League, including a 2-1 victory over leaders Arsenal on Saturday. At St Jakob-Park in Basel, summer signing Evann Guessand
Tony Jefferson intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass in overtime to give the Los Angeles Chargers a 22-19 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday in an NFL thriller between playoff contenders. Justin Herbert, playing a week after surgery on his broken left (non-throwing) hand, withstood a career-high seven sacks to throw for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Chargers. Cameron Dicker kicked five field goals, including the 54-yard game winner in overtime. The Chargers defenders forced Hurts to throw four interceptions and surrender a fumble for a career-worst five turnovers as the Eagles fell to 8-5 with a third
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