Fri, Nov 28, 2008 page21

• Sport Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ CHINA

  Ex-player sentenced to death

  A former star player in China’s top league has been sentenced to death for murdering a man over a gambling debt, state press reported yesterday. Wen Junwu, formerly with the now defunct Guangdong Apollo, based in Guangzhou, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Wednesday for killing Li Jiahao, the China Daily said. The reprieve likely means that Wen’s death sentence will be commuted to life in prison after two years. Wen owed Li 80,000 yuan (US$11,700) in gambling debts at the time of Li’s murder in June last year, the report said. It said an accomplice was also sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Wen, 30, was once a rising star in China’s top league, the paper said. He incurred most of his debts from Internet gambling which Li helped broker, it said, but it was not clear if he gambled on Chinese league matches. For years, China’s professional league has been loudly accused by sponsors, fans and media of being riddled with organized gambling rings.

  ■ ENGLAND

  Wenger wins award

  Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was awarded the Britain-based French sports personality of the year on Wednesday, giving him another boost as his team’s turbulent season gets back on track. Wenger was voted sport’s “Francais of the Year” by the French community in Britain in an online poll, beating a field of nominees including the man who was recently stripped of the Arsenal captaincy, William Gallas. In another category, Eva Green, who played James Bond’s love interest in Casino Royale in 2006, was voted the French “artist” of the year. Wenger has won the league three times and the FA Cup four times at Arsenal.

  ■ NORWAY

  Club apologizes for prank

  Rosenborg apologized to Valencia on Wednesday after a prank saw their Web site refer to their Spanish rivals as “homosexuals.” A video on the site had been designed to give a little linguistic guidance to readers ahead of last night’s UEFA Cup encounter, but one clip featured Rosenborg’s Uruguayan defender Alejandro Lago calling the La Liga side “maricones” — slang for gays. Reading from a script, Lago also slammed the Spanish as “little girlies who can’t take it when temperatures drop below zero.” That comment came following a report that the Spanish outfit had had supplementary clothing flown in to cope with the Scandinavian winter weather — but the Web site furore was a frosty reception of a different kind. Rosenborg apologized and said that “one should not joke” either about matters religious or issues of sexuality.

  ■ ENGLAND

  Norris charged by the FA

  Ipswich Town midfielder David Norris has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association (FA) following his controversial goal celebration in the win over Blackpool earlier this month. Norris has admitted the charge and asked for a personal hearing, with an FA regulatory commission set to hear his case yesterday. The 27-year-old had already been fined by his club and apologized for making a gesture in support of his jailed former Plymouth teammate Luke McCormick after scoring in Ipswich’s 1-0 victory away to Blackpool on Nov. 8 in the second-tier Championship. McCormick is currently serving a sentence of seven years and four months for causing the deaths of Arron Peak, 10, and his brother Ben, eight, in a car accident when he was under the influence of alcohol earlier this year on his way home from Norris’ wedding.

  ■ AWARDS

  Olympians win UK honors

  British Olympic gold medal winners Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington were on Wednesday named sportsman and sportswoman of the year at the 60th Sports Journalists’ Association (SJA) British sports awards. Hoy, who won three cycling gold medals in Beijing while Adlington twice triumphed in the Water Cube’s swimming pool, topped a poll of the more than 600 members of the British-based SJA. Great Britain’s cycling team, which won 14 golds in Beijing and 11 at the track world championships in Manchester in March, was named team of the year. Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton was runner-up to Hoy in the men’s poll with triple Olympic yachting gold medalist Ben Ainslie third. In the voting for the Sportswoman of the Year, Olympic and world road-race champion Nicole Cooke was runner-up to Adlington. Cooke came in ahead of Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, who won Britain’s only athletics gold in Beijing.

  ■ CYCLING

  Contador wins Golden Bike

  Giro and Vuelta champion Alberto Contador won the Golden Bike award for the best rider of the year for the second consecutive season on Wednesday. The Spaniard beat time-trial Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and compatriot and Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre in a vote by international cycling writers.

  ■ MOTOGP

  Pedrosa pips Rossi at Jerez

  Honda’s Dani Pedrosa set the pace ahead of world champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) during the first day of the last MotoGP winter testing session of the year in Jerez de la Frontera, southern Spain, on Wednesday. World championship runner-up Casey Stoner of Australia was also present at the circuit as a spectator after undergoing an operation on his left wrist in Modena, Italy. on Oct. 30. Stoner could begin light physical training within the next two weeks, according to a press release from his Ducati team.

  ■ MOTOR RACING

  Red Bull buys up Toro Rosso

  Red Bull gained full ownership of Toro Rosso on Tuesday after buying up Berger Motorsport’s stake in the Formula One team. Red Bull, led by Austrian billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, acquired the 50-percent stake controlled by Gerhard Berger in a deal still pending approval by regulatory authorities. Toro Rosso, long seen as a development team, outperformed Red Bull last year. Sebastien Vettel won the German Grand Prix to become the youngest F1 champion, although the 21-year-old German driver swapped teams to ride for Red Bull next season.

  ■ BASEBALL

  BALCO restrictions lifted

  Thousands of pages of grand jury testimony related to the long-running steroids investigation of baseball star Barry Bonds and other athletes were unsealed by a federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday. US District Court Judge Susan Illston signed an order that allows prosecutors to share grand jury transcripts, medical lab reports and search warrant affidavits with Bonds’ lawyers. It came in response to a request from the US Attorney’s office last week that the protective order on the documents be lifted to avoid possibly delaying Bonds’ perjury trial, scheduled to begin on March 2. The documents will however not be made public,said Jack Gillund, a spokesman for US Attorney Joseph Russoniello. He said testimony from the secret grand jury proceedings will remain closely guarded.
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