■ SOCCER
Beye claims his innocence
Newcastle defender Habib Beye has claimed his tackle against Manchester City that cost him his place against Sunderland this Saturday was a good one and did not merit a sending off. Newcastle have launched an appeal against 31-year-old Beye’s red card in the 2-2 Premiership draw against City at St James Park on Monday night. Senegal’s Beye received a 12th-minute dismissal for a challenge on Brazil star star Robinho and referee Rob Styles awarded a penalty although replays showed Beye had played the ball. The Football Association was on Tuesday awaiting the referee’s report, but the defender insisted he had been cruelly punished. Beye said: “For me, that was the start of my season and I am devastated by the decision. I wouldn’t have made the tackle if I didn’t think I could have got the ball, and that’s why I am so disappointed.”
■ SOCCER
Beckham in talks with Milan
David Beckham’s agent is in talks with AC Milan over a loan deal for the Los Angeles Galaxy and England midfielder, Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani said yesterday. “Will he arrive? I believe so, yes. He will stay here at Milan on loan for some months, we are talking about it with his agent,” Galliani told Milan’s official Web site, acmilan.com. The 33-year-old, who made his name at Manchester United where he won the 1999 Champions League, is one of the most famous and marketable soccer players to ever play the game and Milan will look to cash in on and off the field. “We will keep him for some months and then he will leave. Beckham has chosen Milan,” Galliani added. “Our squad is ultra-competitive and it will stay like that but Beckham is something different and intriguing.” Media reports said Beckham would join in January during the US Major League Soccer close season.
■ OLYMPICS
Beijing beat media records
The Olympic Games in Beijing were followed by a record 4.7 billion television viewers across the world, according to sports programming experts meeting in Monaco on Tuesday. Viewing figures were not affected by news coverage on the Internet, they added at the Sportel convention for companies involved with any aspect of sports programming and sports content across all distribution platforms. Roland Faure, former president of Radio France, said: “The explosion of viewing figures allowed the Beijing Games to beat all broadcast records, in quantity and quality, and to reach an unmatched number of television watchers.” In the US, the NBC station smashed viewer records, notching up 214 million over 17 days — a US record for a sporting event. The viewing figures for Beijing represent a 20 percent hike on similar figures for the 2004 Games in Athens. Figures for users of the Internet, video on demand and mobile telephones showed “exponential growth,” other specialists said.
■ KITE SURFING
Frenchwoman eyes Pacific
A French adventurer will set sail from San Francisco today in a bid to become the first person to kite surf across the Pacific Ocean. Anne Quemere, 42, the only woman to have rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean in both directions without assistance, will use Pacific winds to propel her in a 5.5m craft some 7,000km to French Polynesia. The voyage is expected to take around three months. Quemere, who completed a kite surf voyage cross the Atlantic in 2006, said she had originally planned to leave tomorrow, but weather conditions forced her to bring forward her departure date by 24 hours.
■ BASKETBALL
Officials deny Yao rumors
Chinese basketball officials have denied local media reports that NBA All-Star Yao Ming is set to retire from international basketball. The 2.286m Houston Rockets center has always insisted on representing his country as well as playing in the NBA, a year-round schedule which critics say makes him vulnerable to the injuries that have hampered his career. The 28-year-old said before August’s Olympics that Beijing would be his last Games and a report in a Shanghai newspaper on Tuesday said he no longer felt able to commit his time to the national team. “We do not know anything about this. He has never told us of his intention of retiring. Never,” Hu Jiashi, deputy director of the Chinese Basketball Association, told the China Daily newspaper. Yao’s China agent said the report was irresponsible.
■ FOOTBALL
Vick ready to plead guilty
Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick plans to plead guilty to state dogfighting charges next week, a step that could allow him to qualify for an early release from federal prison and into a halfway house. In court papers filed in Surry County Circuit Court, Virginia, Vick’s attorneys are seeking to have Vick enter his plea by video teleconference. The papers also note that the guilty plea would save the government the considerable expense of transporting Vick to Surry, and satisfy the county’s need to hold him accountable for the crimes he bankrolled and participated in at a rural house he owned there. Under federal rules, Vick would not be eligible for programs such as release to a halfway house if he has pending charges. “I’m not trying to make him suffer,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerald Poindexter said in a telephone interview. “I’m just trying to make him account for what he’s done.”
■ FOOTBALL
49ers sign new coach
Hall of Fame defender Mike Singletary has been named coach of the San Francisco 49ers after the struggling NFL team fired Mike Nolan following a dismal 2-5 start. Singletary, elected to the honor shrine in 1998, was as a linebacker for 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears and spent two seasons as a linebackers coach in Baltimore before serving as a 49ers assistant coach for the past four seasons. Nolan finished his San Francisco tenure 18-37, second only to Dennis Erickson as the worst all-time showing for any 49ers coach. His team went 7-9 in 2006 but 5-11 last year. “This decision was difficult because Mike has been both a friend and valued coach,” 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan said. “But my first obligation is always to do what’s in the best interest of the entire 49ers organization. I am confident that Mike Singletary’s leadership ability along with his experience as both a Hall of Fame player and coach gives him the ability to turn our season around.”
■ BOXING
Mexican dies after knockout
Mexican featherweight boxer Daniel Aguillon has died after a five-day coma induced by a knockout blow, his family said on Tuesday in Mexico City. Fellow Mexican Alejandro Sanabria knocked the 24-year-old to the mat last Wednesday, 40 seconds from the end of a Central American featherweight title fight. Doctors operated on Sanabria to treat a blood clot in his brain but the boxer failed to regain consciousness and died late on Monday, Aguillon’s family said. Aguillon won 16 fights in his career, including nine by knockout, four draws and two losses. He was the first boxer to die in a fight in the Mexican capital since 1953, the city’s boxing commission said.
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
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