■BASEBALL
Giambi returns to A’s
Jason Giambi is returning for a second spell with the Oakland Athletics after agreeing a one-year contract, the team said on its web site on Wednesday. Giambi, who turned 38 yesterday, spent the first seven years of his career with the A’s before signing with the New York Yankees as a free agent following the 2001 season. Terms of the deal were not announced but the San Francisco Chronicle said Giambi’s deal was for US$4 million, with a club option next year for US$5.5 million. The 2000 American League MVP hit 32 home runs and had 96 runs batted in for the Yankees last season.
■HOCKEY
NHL puts the bite on Ruutu
Ottawa Senators left wing Jarkko Ruutu of Finland was suspended for two games without pay by the National Hockey League on Wednesday, one day after biting Buffalo rival Andrew Peters. The biting incident came during an altercation in the first period of a 4-2 Buffalo Sabres home victory on Tuesday. Ruutu appeared to bite the right thumb of Peters, who was wearing his glove. The bite pulled the glove off Peters’ hand and the Sabre grabbed his thumb in pain and skated away to complain to officials. Ruutu denied biting Peters after the game but television replays of the incident were enough to prompt action from the NHL, banning Ruutu from Ottawa’s game yesterday at Boston and tomorrow against the New York Rangers.
■FOOTBALL
Cowboys send Jones packing
The Dallas Cowboys released troubled cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones on Wednesday, ending a tumultuous season marred by controversy, injuries and a six-game suspension. Jones’ departure ends an unsuccessful reclamation project by the Cowboys, who acquired him from the Tennessee Titans after he was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the entire 2007 season following repeated violations of the league conduct policies and brushes with the police. Trouble followed Jones to Dallas, Goodell slapping him with a six-game ban following an alcohol-related altercation with one of his bodyguards at a Dallas hotel. In his first game back, Jones sustained a herniated disk in his neck playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He only returned for the final two games of the regular season. Jones has been arrested six times since the Titans made him the sixth overall selection in the 2005 draft.
■FOOTBALL
Yale appoint first black coach
Tom Williams, a Jacksonville Jaguars defensive assistant coach, was named coach on Wednesday at Yale, becoming the first black coach in the university’s 137-year football history. Williams, 39, added his name to the Ivy League school’s landmark legacy. “I am thrilled for this tremendous opportunity to be the head football coach at such a historic and fabled institution,” said Williams, previously on college gridiron staffs at Hawaii, Washington, Stanford and San Jose State. Tom Beckett, Yale’s athletic department director, was an associate athletic director at Stanford when Williams was a student there. Williams replaces Jack Siedlecki, who retired after 12 seasons to serve as an assistant to Beckett. He compiled a 70-47 record and guided the Bulldogs to shares of the Ivy League title in 1999 and 2006. The Jaguars failed to qualify for the NFL playoffs this season, finishing 5-11. “[Williams] has shown strong leadership qualities and is a very good communicator,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. “This is a great opportunity for him.”
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS