■ SOCCER
Talks aim for unified team
Talks sponsored by the world game's governing body have begun to try to create a unified national team for the divided island of Cyprus. The presidents of the official Cyprus Football Association, representing the Greek Cypriot side, and the unofficial Turkish Cypriot Football Association met at FIFA headquarters in Zurich last week, the body said yesterday. The Cyprus national team recruits players only from the Greek Cypriot side of the island, which has been divided since Turkey invaded the north in 1974. Only Turkey recognizes the state subsequently declared by the Turkish Cypriots in the northern part. FIFA only recognizes the Greek Cypriot association because the world body's statutes forbid competing associations. That means teams and players from the Turkish-Cypriot side are prohibited from taking part in official international matches.
■ SOCCER
North Koreans avoid shops
A North Korean official at the Women's World Cup tournament in China has played down his side's reticence in dealing with the media, while explaining that the team did not go shopping like others because it wasted energy. Explaining the North Koreans' preference for a low profile, the squad's general manager Kim Jong-su said they found the media a distraction. "Our coach isn't against doing interviews per se, he just prefers not to because he feels they can be distracting," Kim told Fifa.com. The players also preferred the quiet approach when it came to relaxing away from soccer. "We believe that we can only compete to the best of our ability if we conserve our energy for when we need it," Kim said. "Shopping does not help anyone to relax. On the contrary it merely distracts the players' attention, and is an unnecessary waste of players' physical and mental strength and energy." North Korea were knocked out in the quarter-finals.
■ HOCKEY
Star hurt in freak accident
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle will miss up to six weeks after surgery to repair tendons in his left wrist that were cut in a freak locker room mishap. Boyle, who was second in goals among NHL defensemen last season, suffered the injury on Saturday night when a skate fell off a hook in his locker and cut his wrist, completely severing the tendons. Boyle scored 20 goals and recorded 43 assists, finishing fourth in points among defensemen in 82 games last season.
■ SOCCER
Ex-Brazil striker in hospital
Former Brazil striker Casagrande was in stable condition in an intensive care unit on Sunday after being injured in a car accident, doctors said. Casagrande, one of Brazil's strikers during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, was taken to hospital with head trauma and other injuries after the car he was in rolled over and struck several parked vehicles late on Saturday night in Sao Paulo. Casagrande's girlfriend also had to be hospitalized because of a back injury, the Albert Einstein hospital said in a statement. Casagrande, who was unconscious when he was admitted to the hospital, would remain under observation for an undetermined period, doctors said in the statement. "His prognosis is good," doctor Artur Timerman told the G1 Web site, adding that exams showed the player's head injury was not serious. Authorities were still investigating what caused the accident.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
With a hat-trick on Wednesday, Victor Osimhen moved atop the UEFA Champions League scoring table, with the Nigeria striker netting all three goals in Galatasaray’s 3-0 victory over Ajax in Amsterdam. Osimhen moved to six goals this season in Europe’s elite club competition, one more than Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The Istanbul club signed Osimhen to a permanent deal from SSC Napoli in the summer for a record transfer fee in the Turkish League reportedly worth US$86 million. The 26-year-old striker needed less than 20 minutes to complete his first hat-trick in the competition. He headed in the opener in the
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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