■ FORMULA ONE
Singapore to host night race
Singapore will host its first Formula One race next season -- and it will be the sport's first at night. The World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday released the F1 schedule for next year, and Singapore was listed as the 15th event on the 18-race calendar. It will be held on a street circuit on Sept. 28. The season will begin in Melbourne, Australia, on March 13. The calendar also includes 10 races in Europe, along with others in Malaysia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, China and Brazil.
■ FOOTBALL
NFL bolsters medical fund
The NFL added US$10 million to its medical fund for retired players on Wednesday, designating the money for joint replacement surgery, cardiovascular screening and assisted living. The sum will be added to a US$7 million fund agreed upon in July by the league and its players' union. It will be supplemented by money from player fines, contribution from the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and other retired players groups. This is the latest step in a dispute concerning retired players and their pensions. Last year, a group of prominent retirees targeted Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA's executive director, for paying too much attention to current players and not enough to former players. In May, the NFL, the NFLPA, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL alumni association formed what was dubbed "The Alliance" to help retired players. Two months later, commissioner Roger Goodell, Upshaw and 11 retired players met in Washington and announced a US$7 million fund for medical needs.
■ FORMULA ONE
Spyker to change its name
The Spyker team will be renamed Force India in the next Formula One season. The World Motor Sport council allowed the name change at a meeting on Wednesday. The team, based in Silverstone, England, was bought by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol earlier this month. Mallya and Mol are the third owners in two years for the former Jordan team. The Midland group took over in 2005, before selling to Spyker in September last year. Adrian Sutil was the most successful driver for Spyker this season with one point for the team to finish last in the constructors' championship. The other Spyker drivers -- Sakon Yamamoto, Christian Albers and Markus Winkelhock -- finished in the final three places in the standings. Albers was fired in July because of commercial difficulties. He was first replaced by Albers, then Yamamoto.
■ BASKETBALL
Heat swap Walker for Davis
The Miami Heat shipped discontented Antoine Walker to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ricky Davis on Wednesday as part of a five-player swap between the NBA teams. The Heat also received veteran center Mark Blount, and the Timberwolves acquired forwards Michael Doleac and Wayne Simien along with a conditional first-round draft pick. Walker, 31, joins his fifth team since the beginning of the 2003-2004 season. Although he helped the Heat to the NBA championship last year, Walker never seemed quite at home in Miami, battling injury and weight problems. He clashed with coach Pat Riley and served a brief team-imposed suspension last season over his body-fat measurements, which were outside team limits.
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
UNDERDOG STORY: Lee said that he did not expect to do this well, overcoming French favorite Alex Lanier to advance to his first BWF World Tour Super 1000 final Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao on Saturday continued his fairytale run at the All England Open, dispatching France’s Alex Lanier to set up a final against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China after press time last night. Lee, staged a comeback after losing the first game to overcome in-form Lanier, the last remaining European in the competition, 19-21 21-14 21-17, as the Taiwanese shuttler advanced to his first BWF World Tour Super 1000 final. “The victory hasn’t sunk in yet. I didn’t expect that I would do this well,” the world No. 22 said. “I’m so surprised by the result myself.” “I was really
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