■ RUGBY UNION
Bok coach announcement
The new Springbok coach will be selected on Jan. 9, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) announced on Monday. A meeting of the council of provincial union presidents -- which has 19 voting members -- will make the choice after receiving recommendations from a nine-man appointment committee. The four shortlisted candidates to succeed Jake White, who steered the Springboks to victory in the World Cup earlier this year, were to be interviewed on Monday and yesterday, a SARU statement said. The contenders are Springbok backline coach Allister Coetzee, SA under-21 coach Peter de Villiers, Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer and 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok wing Chester Williams.
■ Soccer
Rogerio Ceni honored
Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni, who allowed only 19 goals and scored seven, won his second straight Brazilian league player of the year award on Monday, the Brazilian soccer confederation announced. Ceni, whose penchant for leaving his own goal for scoring opportunities is his trademark, helped Sao Paulo claim its fifth Brasileiro and second straight title. "It's a moment of great happiness for me. To receive awards at this level is a great honor," Ceni said upon receiving the trophy. "The message I have is that all the fan clubs live in harmony. I am only an instrument of my team." He also won trophies for being the championship's best goalkeeper and was selected the top player with 51 percent in an Internet fan poll. Of Ceni's seven goals, two came via free kicks and five more on penalty kicks.
■ Rugby Union
Lionel Nallet honored
Lock Lionel Nallet was named France's international player of the year on Monday in a stinging rebuke to former national coach Bernard Laporte. Laporte, who quit as coach after the World Cup to become junior sports minister, omitted the 31-year-old Castres forward from his team for the World Cup semi-final loss to England in October. "I think I won the award because I played all the games of our winning Six Nations campaign," Nallet told reporters during the "Night of Rugby" ceremony. "I would have liked to play more during the World Cup. It was really frustrating because we didn't reach our objective which was to win the World Cup," he said. The awards were made by the French rugby league, players' union and coaches' association. The best player of the French championship award went to Juan Martin Hernandez, who plays for Stade Francais.
■ Soccer
Builders still on strike
Builders of a stadium for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa were on strike on Monday with talks still locked on bonuses and transport allowances, the union said. Some 800 workers downed tools for the fifth day running at the site of the Mbombela stadium, where at least four first-round matches in the World Cup are scheduled to be played. "They want a 2,000 rand bonus and a 900 rand transport allowance," said Onismus Serothwane, the regional co-ordinator for the National Union of Mineworkers. Workers at the stadium in the northeastern city of Nelspruit first went on strike on Nov. 21, however they returned to work after a day to allow their employers to come up with a suitable offer. They resumed their strike action last Wednesday after the parties failed to reach an agreement.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
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