■ BOXING
Marquez to fight Pacquiao
Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez will defend his World Boxing Council super featherweight crown against Filipino star Manny Pacquiao on March 15 in Las Vegas, promoters announced on Thursday. The bout, backed by Golden Boy promotions, is a rematch of a 2004 draw in which Pacquiao knocked Marquez to the canvas three times in the first round. One judge scored the fight for each boxer and the third had the matchup even. Marquez, 34, is 48-3 with one drawn and 35 knockouts while Pacquiao, who turns 29 next month, is 45-3 with two drawn and 35 knockouts.
■ SOCCER
Beckham to play in Hawaii
David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy will lead a four-team field for the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship exhibition tournament in Hawaii in February. The event will also include Japanese champions Gamba Osaka, the Major League Soccer Cup champions Houston Dynamo and a team from the Australian A-League Final Series. The tournament will feature a pair of doubleheaders on Feb. 20 and Feb. 23, with the first day's winners playing for the title and the losers for third place. Gamba Osaka will open the tournament against the Galaxy, with Houston facing the Australian team.
■ BIATHLON
Defrasne wins in Finland
France's Vincent Defrasne won the season's first event in the men's biathlon World Cup, a 20km race in Kontiolahti, Finland, on Thursday. Defrasne, last year's Olympic pursuit champion, produced a faultless shooting display on his four visits to the range to secure his third World Cup victory. He finished the course 23.6 seconds ahead of Norwegian Halvard Hanevold with Maxim Tchudov of Russia almost seven seconds further adrift in third. Defrasne, 30, was one of only two biathletes in the field of 120 not to miss a target, and showed his off-season focus on honing his skiing technique had paid dividends.
■ BASKETBALL
Jackson extends contract
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he has agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension believed to be worth about US$24 million, putting him under contract through the 2009-2010 season. The Hall of Fame coach announced his decision and discussed his contract situation before Thursday's game against Denver. He said it was likely to be his last contract. "I was in my 50s in the last era, I'm in my 60s in this era and maybe I can go on into my 70s," he said. "But I really don't think so. I'm losing a step as I go -- mentally and physically. Being abreast of all these kids is not an easy task. I can hardly speak their language, but I'm trying."
■ RUGBY UNION
Laporte backs Japanese bid
France's secretary of state for sport, Bernard Laporte, has backed Japan's bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup, saying it would help internationalize the game. Laporte, who coached his country's national team at this year's World Cup hosted by France, said that bringing the tournament to Japan was "in the sport's global interest." He said that while he was not involved in voting at the International Rugby Board, "I think it would be good for Japan to organize the World Cup, as this is a rugby nation. To organize the World Cup, the priority is to have stadiums and the infrastructure is there. Rugby also needs this continent," he told reporters late on Thursday on a visit to Tokyo.
■ CRICKET
Injury ends Bichel's season
Former Test bowler Andy Bichel will miss the remainder of the Australian season after surgery on his right shoulder yesterday, Queensland Cricket said. The surgery will sideline the 37-year-old paceman until the start of next summer. Bichel injured his shoulder throwing a ball while fielding during a club match at the start of the southern summer.
■ Basketball
Scandal-hit star dies
Ralph Beard, an All-American guard for the University of Kentucky in the 1940s and a key figure in college basketball's biggest betting scandal, has died. He was 79. Beard, who helped the Wildcats win national championships in the 1948 and 1949 died early on Thursday. After two years in the NBA, and before the start of the 1952 season, Beard was among several players involved in a point-shaving scandal that rocked college basketball and admitted to shaving points while at Kentucky. He received a suspended sentence, but was banned for life from the NBA.
■ Rugby Union
Players in quokka shocker
Two players from Australia's Western Force Super 14 club have been disciplined after mishandling small animals during a team bonding session. Scott Fava and Richard Brown were fined and ordered to undergo counselling for alcohol abuse after being found guilty of handling quokkas, a rare Australian marsupial listed as a protected species. Although investigators found there was no evidence to suggest the players intended to harm the quokkas, RugbyWA's Misconduct Committee found them guilty of offenses including being drunk in public at a pre-season training camp on Rottnest Island.
■ Sumo
Asashoryu back in Japan
Troubled grand champion Asashoryu returned yesterday to Japan where he was bracing for an earful from the sumo world, three months after he fled to his native Mongolia. He arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo to a crowd of more than 100 waiting reporters and photographers. Asashoryu was banned from the sumo world until the end of last month after he infuriated sumo fans by cheerfully playing a soccer match after skipping a regional tour, an obligation for all sumo wrestlers. Asashoryu fled to Mongolia to wait out his time after doctors said he was depressed. He was scheduled to speak to the press at the Ryogoku National Studium in Tokyo later in the day for the first time since July 30 amid calls for an apology over his conduct.
■ Soccer
Okada to lead Japan
The Japan Football Association said yesterday it had picked Takeshi Okada, who coached Japan at their first World Cup in 1998, to return to the job to replace the ailing Ivica Osim. He takes charge as Japan prepare for next year's campaign to win a berth in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Okada will be formally appointed by an executive board meeting next Friday, an association spokeswoman said. Osim suffered a serious stroke on Nov. 16 and is only now emerging from a coma. Okada was first appointed Japan's coach in 1997 and despite limited experience at the time, developed a reputation for being able to take tough decisions and sideline senior players if necessary. After coaching the national team, Okada managed Consadole Sapporo in the J-League second division in 1999. He then moved to the Yokohama F Marinos, winning two championships before he stepped down last year.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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