■SOCCER
Fan shoots and kills player
An Iraqi fan shot dead a player of the opposing team as he tried to score an equalizing goal in the final minutes of a match, police said on Monday. The shooting on Saturday in Hilla, 100km south of Baghdad, during a match between local teams underscored the country’s propensity to lawlessness even as violence by militant groups falls to lows not seen since mid-2003. “As soon as Haider Kadhim [the player] was alone in front of the goalkeeper and close to equalizing, a fan in the crowd fired a pistol at him,” said a senior police officer in Hilla, who declined to be named. “We arrested this fan immediately, but unfortunately the player died,” he said. Iraqis love soccer and have often expressed hope the game would help reconcile warring ethnic groups and sects.
■SWIMMING
Jackson sets world record
Jo Jackson set a world record in the women’s 400m freestyle at the British swimming championships on Monday. The 22-year-old Olympic bronze medalist finished in 4 minutes, 0.66 seconds, lowering Federica Pellegrini’s mark by almost a second. Pellegrini swam 4 minutes, 1.53 seconds at an Italian meet earlier this month. Double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington finished second, also under the old mark, touching in 4 minutes, 0.89 seconds. “To get a world record has just blown me away and for Becky to go under the world record as well, I’m so happy,” Jackson said. “I knew it was going to be so tough coming here because Becky is swimming amazing. She really pushed me there, I wanted it so much. I’ve never had the British record in the 400, so it’s my first British record in the 400 and the world record. It’s not a bad one.”
■CYCLING
Scarponi takes the lead
Michele Scarponi took the overall lead in the Tirreno-Adriatico from Andreas Kloeden of Germany after winning the longest and the penultimate stage of the race on Monday. The Italian rider with the Diquigiovanni-Androni team out-sprinted Stefano Garzelli and Ivan Basso in an uphill finish after the three broke away on a major climb with 40km to go. Scarponi finished in 6 hours, 36 minutes, 12 seconds in the 235km leg from Civitanova Marche to Camerino. Scarponi now holds a 25-second lead over Garzelli in the overall standings, with Kloeden — who won Sunday’s time trial — 1 minute, 7 seconds behind in third.
■SOCCER
England bid for 2018, 2022
The Football Association (FA) will bid to stage the World Cup in England in either 2018 or 2022, it was announced on Monday. Countries were asked by world soccer’s governing body FIFA to bid for one of the two tournaments or submit proposals to stage both events. The FA handed in their plans at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on Monday. Afterwards, England bid and FA chairman Lord David Triesman issued a statement, saying: “Today marks another step forward on our journey to bring the FIFA World Cup to England and our team are focused on delivering the best bid possible to FIFA.”
■BASEBALL
Cano scan reveals bursitis
Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano had an MRI on Monday that found bursitis in his right shoulder and he could play the field on Friday. Cano will pinch hit or be a designated hitter until then. He had a pinch-single during the sixth inning of New York’s 12-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday. “It feels better,” Cano said. “I’ll be ready in a few days.”
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,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
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
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),