■ Speedskating
New world record set
Jin Sun-yu of South Korea set a world record in the women's 1,000m, and Apolo Anton Ohno of the US captured his second gold medal Sunday at a World Cup short-track speedskating meet in Bormio, Italy. Jin finished her race in 1 minute, 30.037 seconds, beating Yang Yang of China and Tatiana Borodulina of Russia in the final. The previous record of 1:30.171 had been set by China's Wang Meng at Hangzhou on Oct. 2. Ohno, the Olympic champion at the 2002 Games, won the 3,000 in 5:44.636, beating Lee Ho-suk and Ahn Hyun-soo of South Korea. Ohno, who ended the three-day meet with two golds and one bronze, capped his impressive weekend by also taking the overall title with 86 points, 10 ahead of Lee.
■ Sailing
Racers forced to return
Three yachts in the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race suffered storm damage during the first day at sea and two were making for port on Sunday. Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar were both expected to try and repair damage in port -- movistar in Cadiz on the southwestern tip of Spain and Pirates of the Caribbean most likely in Lisbon, Portugal -- a spokeswoman for the race said. "Pirates is taking in water and movistar has damage to its swinging, or canting, keel," race press officer Lizzie Green said by telephone. Premier Challenge of Australia also suffered storm damage and had reduced speed but could yet be able to make running repairs. The damaged yachts were about 200km out at sea at 5:30pm and would take about 10 hours to make it to port.
■ Rugby
Umaga supports Kiwi bid
All Blacks captain Tana Umaga will join New Zealand's last-minute push this week to win hosting rights to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Umaga will be part of the team which will make New Zealand's final pitch to the International Rugby Board, which will decide in Dublin on Thursday where the 2011 tournament will be staged. Japan, South Africa and New Zealand are vying to host the seventh world tournament. Umaga will take time out from the All Blacks' preparation for Saturday's test against England in London to outline the benefits of the New Zealand bid from a player's perspective, the New Zealand Rugby Union said in a statement on Monday. The New Zealand bid team will include Prime Minister Helen Clark and three All Blacks captains -- Umaga, Colin Meads and Sir Brian Lochore.
■ Cricket
England leads Pakistan
England's opening batsman Marcus Trescothick missed a deserved double century in Multan, Pakistan on Monday, but guided his team to a big first innings lead against Pakistan on the third day of the first cricket test. Trescothick spearheaded England to 418 with a fantastic knock of 193 before England was bowled out an hour after lunch. It gave England a lead of 144 after Pakistan was dismissed for 274 in its first innings. Trescothick then grabbed a two-handed catch in the first slip to dismiss opener Shoaib Malik (18) as Pakistan went for tea at 64 for 1. Vice-captain Younis Khan was batting on 24 while Salman Butt was not out on 20.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
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