■ CRICKET
Queen knights Sir Beefy
England cricket great Ian Botham was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday. The 51-year-old former allrounder, who can now be referred to as Sir Ian, was honored for his services to sport and his charity work for leukemia research. "I've had some great moments in sport and other walks of life but nothing matches this. It was mind-blowing, magnificent," Botham said. Botham, whose nickname is Beefy, finished his career as England's leading Test wicket-taker with 383 wickets and 5,200 Test runs. He played from 1974 until 1993. Botham said he had not been addressed as Sir Beefy yet, adding: "I have been called Sir Loin of Beef."
■ SOCCER
Ajax coach to join Chelsea
Chelsea has confirmed that Ajax coach Henk ten Cate will join the club as an assistant first-team coach. The Premier League team said on Wednesday it had agreed to a deal with the Dutch club to sign ten Cate, and that a contract was to be finalized yesterday. He will work under Avram Grant, who took over coaching at the club on Sept. 17 after the sudden departure of manager Jose Mourinho. Ten Cate is expected to work alongside first-team coach Steve Clarke, who was assistant to Mourinho. Ten Cate's contract with Ajax was due to expire at the end of the season.
■ BASEBALL
Photographers hound Torre
Joe Torre might have managed his final Yankees game on Monday night, but the team nonetheless acted on Tuesday and Wednesday to move some persistent newspaper photographers and TV camera people off his lawn and driveway. "In the postgame Monday, Joe said there's always a vigil on his front lawn every year and he asked this year if they could respect his privacy," said Jason Zillo, the team's director of media relations. But not every news media outlet listened. Late Tuesday morning, Zillo said, he called Torre, who reported that a photographer, camera crew and others he could not identify were outside his home seeking his image. The photographers and camera crews left after a request from Zillo. He threatened to revoke their clubhouse access for Wednesday if the scene were repeated. Two more photographers were at the house on Wednesday, but left a little while later.
■ GOLF
We don't dope: Mickelson
World No. 2 Phil Mickelson yesterday said he believed golf was an ethical sport free of drugs and he would be "shocked" if proved wrong. Nevertheless, the three-time Major winner welcomed plans to introduce doping tests next year. "I don't think one person will test positive for any drugs," he said in a telephone interview from the US. "I would be shocked if a single person ever tested positive for drugs in the game of golf, but by having drug testing now it will only enhance our image in our sport as a self-policing, quality, ethical game," he said.
■ SOCCER
Robinho trains on his own
Robinho practiced separately from his teammates on Wednesday to treat an ankle injury ahead of Brazil's qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. He was still nursing the left-foot injury sustained 10 days ago while playing for Real Madrid, but was expected to recover in time for Brazil's match against Colombia on Sunday in Bogota. "Robinho is fine," team doctor Jose Luis Runco told reporters at the training camp outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the