■ 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.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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