■ RUGBY UNION
Spies cleared to play
Former Springboks No. 8 Pierre Spies is en route to New Zealand to try and help slumping Super 14 champions the Bulls. Spies was cleared to play for the first time in eight months, ever since he was dropped from South Africa's World Cup squad last August, just days before the tournament that the Springboks would win. Dawie Spies, the player's uncle, told Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Sondag that specialists cleared Spies and he took the first available flight to New Zealand, where the Bulls were on tour. "It's a wonderful day for our family to get such news," Dawie Spies said. Pierre Spies coughed up blood at a Springboks practice and tests revealed blood clots on his lungs. The exact nature of his illness was never determined but he finally stopped taking blood-thinning medication at the end of last month. That allowed Spies and the Bulls to plan his return halfway through their tour. Western Force the following Friday before returning home.
■ SOCCER
Honduras grab late victory
Georgie Wilson Welcome scored in the 103rd minute to give Honduras a 1-0 victory over the US in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday in the final of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. In the championship matchup of North American under-23 teams that had already booked their trips to the Beijing Olympics in August, Welcome beat US goalkeeper Dominic Cervi to the far post in the first period of extra time for the decider. The Hondurans got revenge for a 1-0 round-robin loss to the US squad eight days ago on Eddie Gaven's penalty kick five minutes into stoppage time.
■ BOXING
Pacquiao returns a hero
New World Boxing Council (WBC) super-featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao returned home to the Philippines yesterday to a hero's welcome and said he was not ruling out a second rematch with Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez. Philippine Cabinet officials joined Pacquiao's wife and three young children in welcoming the 29-year-old slugger, a week after a bruising 12 rounder with Marquez whom he beat by a split decision to grab the title in Las Vegas. The March 16 fight was a rematch of a 2004 draw in which Pacquiao knocked Marquez to the canvas three times in the first round. Now, Marquez's camp claims errors in judging and says a second rematch would settle the matter once and for all. Pacquiao, who took home a purse of at least US$5 million from the fight, said yesterday he was looking at going up to the lightweight division to face WBC champ David Diaz. But he says that can wait and he would oblige Marquez.
■ CYCLING
Meares to miss track meet
Anna Meares, the world record holder and gold medalist in the 500m time trial at the 2004 Olympics, will miss this week's world track cycling championships, placing her Beijing Games status in doubt. Meares is still recovering from a serious race accident she suffered during a World Cup meet in Los Angeles on Jan. 20. Cycling Australia yesterday announced its final team for the world titles which begin tomorrow in Manchester, England. Meares was replaced by Kaarle McCulloch in the sprint events. Given the complexity of the Olympic qualifying process, it is unclear how Meares' absence will affect her selection chances for Beijing. The women's 500m time trial is no longer on the Olympic program, meaning that Meares would have to attempt to qualify in other sprint events for Beijing.
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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