Sat, Apr 11, 2009 page19

• Sports Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■FOOTBALL

  NFL suspends Bills’ Lynch

  Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch received a three-game suspension from the National Football League on Thursday for a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. The banishment without pay for the Bills’ opening games in September came a month after Lynch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles. He was also involved in a hit-and-run accident last May. Lynch was arrested in February after police found a semi-automatic handgun inside a backpack of a parked car in which Lynch was seated. He pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed firearm and was sentenced to community service and three years on probation.

  ■SNOOKER

  Game to receive facelift

  The reputation of snooker as one of sport’s more traditional games is set to be turned on its head by plans to introduce a radical new condensed format of the game. Impressed by the success of Cricket’s Twenty20, World Snooker chairman Sir Rodney Walker is anxious to lure new fans to the green baize. Outlining his plans in Thursday’s Guardian, he said the new format would feature the same number of colors but only six reds, with games intended to last an average of six or seven minutes. The game has a working title of ‘Super6s’ and is to be trialed at this month’s World Championships in Sheffield with a legends versus rising stars tournament.

  ■SOCCER

  Loyalists behind attacks

  Local units of the two main loyalist terror organizations in Northern Ireland were behind events that have seen 40 Polish migrant workers flee in recent weeks. Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) in south Belfast organized the intimidation of the Poles over the past fortnight, security sources in the city said. The attacks on Polish homes in south Belfast were believed to be in response to an outbreak of hooliganism by soccer fans from Poland during last month’s World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park. Before the crucial Northern Ireland versus Poland match in Belfast on March 28, a group of Polish hooligans smashed up pubs and attacked local fans. One senior security source said last night that a series of revenge attacks had been coordinated by local UDA and UVF units.

  ■CYCLING

  Albasini wins fourth stage

  Michael Albasini won the fourth stage of the Tour of Basque Country on Thursday and defending champion Alberto Contador maintained the overall lead. Albasini crossed the line just ahead of Jurgen Van den Broeck and Christian Vandevelde after the three cyclists had pulled away from the peloton toward the end of the 161km stage. Albasini finished with a winning time of 3 hours, 59 minutes, 42 seconds.

  ■SOCCER

  Empress praises Samurais

  Japanese Empress Michiko has compared the nation’s baseball team the Samurais to their namesake. Michiko’s comments were prompted by the team’s victory in retaining the World Baseball Classic title last month. The empress was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the transcript of which was embargoed until yesterday, the 50th anniversary of her wedding to Emporer Akihito. “Although the Japanese players who distinguished themselves in the World Baseball Classic did not wear traditional armour, commit ritual suicide or speak in archaic Japanese, each one fought with beauty and strength, with something of the samurai spirit in them.”
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