■ Handball
Norway retain European title
Kari Mette Johansen scored nine goals on Sunday to lead Norway to a 27-24 win over Russia in the final of the women's European Handball Championship. Norway, the defending champions, led 16-12 at halftime. Kristine Lunde and Marianna Rokne added four goals each for the winners. Irina Poltoratskaia led Russia -- the reigning world champions -- with six goals. France beat Germany 29-25 with seven goals from Angelique Spincer in the bronze-medal game.
■ Soccer
Colombia bid for World Cup
Colombia was due to formally express its desire to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup yesterday. Colombia will present a letter of intent to FIFA and also will confirm its desire to host the tournament at a meeting tomorrow of the South American confederation, Luis Bedoya, president of the Colombian soccer federation, said on Sunday. In July, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said he wanted the country to host the quadrennial championship. "The country can do it and can do it well," he said during a speech to inaugurate the Central America and Caribbean Games in Cartagena. Colombia was chosen as the host for the 1986 World Cup, but withdrew due to financial problems in 1982.
■ Belgium
Henin-Hardenne wins again
Justine Henin-Hardenne was voted Belgian sportswoman of the year on Sunday, her third title in the last four years. Henin-Hardenne, 24, won the French Open, and returned from injury to take the WTA Championship and finish with the No. 1 ranking last month. She reached the final of every Grand Slam this year, losing in Australia, at Wimbledon and in the US. Henin-Hardenne also was part of the Fed Cup team which reached this year's final, only to lose to Italy when she injured herself in the deciding match.
■ Germany
Soccer heroes team of year
The German national soccer team was selected as the country's team of the year on Sunday in voting by the country's sports journalists. Finishing third at the World Cup in June and July, Die Mannschaft received 4,165 votes with the field hockey world champions taking second with 2,919. Biathletes Michael Greis and Kati Wilhelm won the men's and women's individual honors. Greis won three golds at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and became the first male biathlete to win the honor in 60 years of voting. He received 3,126 votes, with Formula One runner-up Michael Schumacher second with 1,645. Wilhelm won a gold and two silvers at the Winter Games and was the overall World Cup champion. She won with 3,363 votes.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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