Tue, Nov 18, 2008 page19

• Sport Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■SWIMMING

  Three world records broken

  Paul Biedermann of Germany broke Ian Thorpe’s eight-year-old record in the 200m freestyle by finishing in 1 minute, 40.83 seconds, one of three world records to fall on the last day of a short-course swimming World Cup meet. Randall Bal of the US followed and broke the four-day-old record in the 50m backstroke with a time of 22.87 seconds, beating Peter Marshall by 0.03 seconds. Marshall, also from the US, set the record of 23.05 seconds on Wednesday in Stockholm. Marieke Guehrer of Australia set the third record, clocking 24.99 seconds in the women’s 50m butterfly. That was 0.32 seconds faster than the mark set by Therese Alshammar of Sweden on Wednesday. Alshammar was second in 25.35 seconds.

  ■NASCAR

  Johnson takes the title

  Jimmie Johnson finished 15th in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch his third straight title, matching the record set by Cale Yarborough more than three decades ago. Carl Edwards, the only title challenger left, won the 644km race at the southern Florida track. Johnson brought owner Rick Hendrick his eighth championship and helped General Motors clinch the manufacturer’s title. The 33-year-old from El Cajon, California, won seven times this season and had 22 top 10 finishes.

  ■SWIMMING

  Bousquet slams officials

  Olympic silver medalist Frederick Bousquet on Sunday criticized French team officials who he believed deprived him of a gold medal in Beijing. France were beaten to the men’s 4x100m gold medal by the US by just 0.08 seconds and Bousquet, who set a new French short course 100m butterfly record of 51.00 seconds at St Dizier on Sunday, said a late change in the order of the four swimmers in China cost them an Olympic title. “I was deprived of Olympic gold,” said Bousquet, three months after the Games, saying he was still annoyed at certain officials whom he did not name. Bousquet said the four swimmers had decided he would do the final leg, though officials overruled that to name the 100m freestyle gold medalist in China, Alain Bernard, as the final swimmer.

  ■FORMULA ONE

  Officials pan Ecclestone

  Canadian officials blamed the “unreasonable demands” of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Sunday for the failure of attempts to save the country’s grand prix. The officials had hoped to persuade the Briton to reinstate the race in Montreal after it was axed from the calendar. Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, who said last month after meeting Ecclestone that he was hopeful a deal could be done, recognized that the talks had come to nothing. “Despite our endeavors and those of the business community, the unreasonable demands of Formula One exceeded the taxpayer’s ability to pay,” he said in a statement.

  ■GOLF

  Daly set for Aussie Open

  Two-time major champion John Daly will appear in this month’s Australian Masters at Huntingdale, organizers said yesterday. Daly, the winner of the 1991 US PGA championship and 1995 British Open, will play in this week’s Hong Kong Open before traveling to Australia. Both events are co-sanctioned with the European Tour as part of the Race to Dubai Championship. Daly has had a controversial playing history in Australia. In his last appearance six years ago he was disqualified from a tournament for failing to sign his scorecard after throwing his ball and putter into a lake.
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