■SOCCER
Blackburn beat Cottagers
Blackburn, battling for their English Premier League lives, bagged a precious three points with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Fulham on Wednesday. Fulham went into an early lead through Clint Dempsey only for El Hadji Diouf to level in the 69th minute, with Jason Roberts producing the winner with five minutes left. Blackburn moved up from third from bottom to the relative safety of sixth from the foot of the tightly congested table, two points above the drop zone. Fulham are five places and four points above them. Fulham got a dream start when in the second minute Blackburn defender Ryan Nelsen was guilty of failing to keep tabs on Dempsey who latched on to a cross to score. Blackburn stepped up the pressure that paid off after the hour mark with Diouf prodding in from close range although he appeared to be offside before he scored. Then, with five minutes remaining, Pedersen knocked the ball into the box for Roberts to lash home after fending off the challenge of Toni Kallio.
■CRICKET
ICC recommends S Africa
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday recommended South Africa as the venue to stage the biennial Champions Trophy this year. Also vying for the event had been venues in Australia, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates but the ICC Executives’ Committee said in a statement it had chosen South Africa pending confirmation of financial arrangements. The initial recommendation will now go before the ICC Board for consideration on Monday. The elite eight-nation event was moved out of Pakistan after South Africa refused to tour Pakistan, while Australia, England and New Zealand also voiced concerns over touring the troubled country. In addition, the March 3 attack in Lahore on the Sri Lankan team bus has further set back any chance of Pakistan hosting an event.
■ATHLETICS
Doubts raised over record
Doubts have been raised in Spain about the stunning 8.71m long jump by unheralded German Sebastian Bayer at last weekend’s European indoor championships in Turin, Italy. News reports on Wednesday quoted Spanish athletics chief Jose Maria Odriozola as saying that one judge may have made a wrong measurement. “I have the feeling that — apart from the advantage of the run-up track — a measuring error occurred,” Odriozola said. The official said that he was close to the long jump pit and said that one judge “had been measuring wrongly all day.” Bayer stunned the athletics world when he raised his personal best by a massive 54cm to the European indoor record 8.71m. The record was formerly owned by Spain’s Yago Lamego at 8.56m. The jump was just 8cm shy of Carl Lewis’ indoor world record of 8.79m. Bayer attributed the huge leap to “a perfect jump” and the favorable run-up track. Lamela was uncertain whether he may have lost the record due to an error. “Sometimes wrong measurement occur. But normally a second measurement takes place in the case of a record,” Lamela said.
■CRICKET
Sangakkara named captain
Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed Sri Lanka captain, selectors said on Wednesday. Sangakkara, 31, the vice-captain since 2006, replaces Mahela Jayawardene, who stepped down after the recent Pakistan tour. Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has been appointed as Sangakkara’s deputy. Sangakkara’s first tournament in charge will be the ICC World Twenty20 in England in June.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Australia yesterday won two of four races on the first day of the SailGP Sydney event on Sydney Harbour to finish the day atop the points table ahead of Britain and a French team who made an outstanding return after missing the first two events of the season. Australia also had a third and a second placing, finishing the day with 37 points, ahead of Britain with 32 points and France with 27. Britain won the second race of the day and Switzerland, who won the first race, were in fourth place overall. Australia’s prowess in the start box was again the