■ Soccer
Beckham to extend contract
David Beckham will sign a two-year contract extension keeping him at Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid until 2009, sports daily Marca reported yesterday. Beckham's new deal, which would take him up to age of 34, will be rubber-stamped next month following initial talks with Madrid president Florentino Perez at the end of last season, the paper said. "My family have played a big part of my decision to continue after 2007. We're really happy here and I want to win titles with Real Madrid," the paper quoted Beckham as saying. "I'm playing in the best club in the world and my wish is to keep wearing the shirt in the future." Beckham, whose global fame has been credited with boosting Madrid's finances, has displayed patchy form since joining Madrid from Manchester United on a five-year contract in 2002 and has been reported at various times to be considering a move back to England.
■ NBA
Ray Allen stays in Seattle
Ray Allen, one of the National Basketball Association's top free agents this season, is staying in Seattle, re-signing on Wednesday with the SuperSonics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but ESPN.com reported last month that it was a five-year contract that worth up 85 million dollars including performance bonuses. Allen couldn't sign the deal until the league's player movement moratorium was lifted on Tuesday. "We're absolutely thrilled to welcome Ray back to our team," Seattle general manager Rick Sund said. "He's a proven All-Star and one of the top players in the NBA. He's been a tremendous asset for the Sonics, both on and off the court," he said.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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