■GOLF
Wie gets wild card place
Michelle Wie was selected as a wild card to make her Solheim Cup debut for the US on Sunday, while Catriona Matthew made Europe’s team after capturing the Women’s British Open. American captain Beth Daniel also picked Juli Inkster, who will make her eighth Solheim Cup appearance. Wie and Inkster will team up with Paula Creamer, Christie Kerr, Angela Stanford, Nicole Castrale, Brittany Lang, Morgan Pressel, Kristy McPherson, Christina Kim, Brittany Lincicome and Natalie Gulbis. Matthew is joined on the European team by Gwladys Nocera (France), Tania Elosegui (Spain), Diana Luna (Italy), Laura Davies (England), Sophie Gustafson (Sweden), Suzann Pettersen (Norway), Helen Alfredsson (Sweden), Maria Hjorth (Sweden), Becky Brewerton (Wales, wild card), Janice Moodie (Scotland, wild card) and Anna Nordqvist (Sweden, wild card).
■SOCCER
Wilshere bags a brace
Teen star Jack Wilshere bagged a brace of goals on Sunday as Arsenal saw off Scottish champions Rangers 3-0 to lift the Emirates Cup. The 17-year-old scored the opener after just two minutes and then repeated the dose after Croatian international Eduardo had netted the second in the 11th minute. Earlier, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, beaten by Rangers the previous day, drew 1-1, with Maradona’s son-in-law Sergio Aguero netting for the Spaniards from the spot four minutes before the break after he was fouled by Albert Baning, before Ludovic Giuly leveled on 71 minutes. Not such good news for coach Arsene Wenger was having to withdraw French veteran William Gallas at the break after he took a knock to his right knee.
■SOCCER
Villains lift Peace Cup
Aston Villa overcame Italian giants Juventus to win the Peace Cup on penalties on Sunday after both sides had failed to score at the end of extra-time. The Italians, who beat Real Madrid 2-1 in Friday’s semi-final, put Martin O’Neill’s up-and-coming team under intense pressure in a fast-paced game, played in the southern Spanish city of Seville, in which both sides failed to convert a host of chances. In the end, Carlos Cuellar scored for Villa, while Nicola Legrottaglie missed the last spot-kick to give the English Premier League side a 4-3 win on penalties.
■RUGBY UNION
Teen dies of head injuries
A 16-year-old boy who suffered severe head injuries in a rugby training session at a Queensland state high school has died in hospital, an official said yesterday. Lewis Moss, who died on Sunday, had been in a Brisbane hospital’s intensive care unit for 11 days after the injuries in a training accident on July 26 at the Christian Outreach College in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. Moss, who went into cardiac arrest as a result of the accident, was placed in an induced coma, but his condition deteriorated at the weekend.
■CRICKET
Pace man Caddick to retire
Former England fast bowler Andy Caddick on Sunday announced his retirement at the end of the season. The 40-year-old, who has 1,178 first-class wickets and 234 Test victims, said: “I’m 40 — it’s as simple as that. I wanted to call time while I was still physically and mentally strong, rather than playing on for the sake of it. Retirement had to be on my terms, not anyone else’s. Somerset are still in with a chance of winning the championship for the first time this season and that would be the perfect way for me to bow out.”
■FORMULA ONE
Massa flies home to Brazil
Injured Formula One driver Felipe Massa left his Hungarian hospital and boarded his private jet on Monday to return home to Brazil, an AFP photographer reported. Massa was accompanied by his wife, Rafaela, and his doctor Dino Altman. His jet flew out of Budapest and was expected to stop over in Dakar, Senegal, before flying on to Sao Paulo. Massa will go to a Brazilian hospital for check-ups but is not going to be further hospitalized, his father, Luiz Antonio Massa, said earlier. The 28-year-old Ferrari driver had been taken to Budapest’s AEK hospital on July 25 after a horror crash during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
■SAILING
Crossing record broken
French skipper Pascal Bidegorry and his Banque Populaire V crew have broken the North Atlantic crossing record between New York and Lizard Point on the British mainland. Bidegorry and his 11-man crew crossed in 3 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes, 48 seconds, reaching the southernmost point on the British mainland on Sunday. The previous record of 4 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes, 54 seconds was set in July, 2007 by French skipper Franck Cammas. Bidegorry’s crew set an average speed of 32,94 knots (61kph) over the 4,707km, while Cammas and his nine-man crew had sailed at an average of 28.65 knots.
■BOXING
S Korean official suspended
Amateur boxing’s world governing body has suspended Korean Amateur Boxing Federation chief Yoo Jae-joon for 18 months after he sent a banned official to an international competition in violation of regulations, a South Korean sports official said on Monday. The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA), also fined Yoo 2,000 Swiss francs (US$1,868), Korea Sports Council official Kim Sung-chul said. AIBA notified the council of its decision on Saturday, saying Yoo’s organization sent one of its executives as South Korea’s team doctor to a youth competition at Armenia in May. His inclusion went against the AIBA’s earlier suspension of all South Korean boxing executives pending a probe into allegations of a fraudulent weigh-in.
■BASEBALL
Webb opts for surgery
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Brandon Webb was to undergo surgery on his right shoulder yesterday, attempting to repair problems that have limited him to just one game this season. “We support his decision to have surgery,” Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes told the team Web site, arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com, on Sunday. Webb, who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2006, has not pitched since April’s Opening Day and the 30-year-old experienced discomfort in his right shoulder recently when he began throwing after a long layoff.
■SWIMMING
Japan mourns ‘Flying Fish’
The death of Japanese swimming legend Hironoshin Furuhashi has stirred emotions in his country, which drew much inspiration from his stunning run of world records in the years immediately after World War II. Furuhashi, who was 80, was found dead of heart failure on Sunday in his hotel room in Rome where he had attended the world swimming championships as vice president of the sport’s governing body, FINA. Furuhashi earned the nickname the “Flying Fish of Fujiyama [Mount Fuji]” from a stunned US media when he broke the 400m, 800m and 1,500m marks at the US national championships in 1949.
Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev was the only athlete to “beat” a world record on Sunday at the Enhanced Games, winning the men’s 50m freestyle at the divisive competition where athletes were free to take performance-enhancing substances. His time of 20.81 seconds — which is not considered official — came in the final event of the night in Las Vegas, sparing the blushes of organizers who made claims that multiple world records would be surpassed due to a sophisticated doping regime. Gkolomeev, who was wearing a synthetic “supersuit” long banned at events such as the Olympics, outpaced Australia’s Cameron McEvoy’s 20.88 set in
VICTORY ABROAD: The team took home a fistful of medals and secured spots for the autumn’s Asian Games, scheduled for September in Nagoya Taiwan’s women’s team captured the overall title at the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Mongolia on Sunday, finishing with two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. The strong showing, led by gold medalists Wang Chieh-ling and Chang Jui-en secured the full quota of available spots for Taiwan at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, in September. Wang opened Taiwan’s medal run by winning gold in the women’s under-46kg class on Thursday, the first day of competition. Liu Yu-yun later earned a silver in the under-49kg class. On the final day on Sunday, Chang won Taiwan’s second gold medal in the under-62kg event, and
The manager of the Yomiuri Giants, one of Japan’s most popular baseball teams, resigned yesterday after he was arrested for allegedly physically attacking his teenage daughter. Shinnosuke Abe allegedly grabbed the 18-year-old and forced her to the floor at their home in central Tokyo on Monday evening, reported national broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News, citing unnamed police sources. “Leaving like this really means I’m causing you a lot of trouble, and I feel truly sorry about that,” Abe told a hastily arranged news conference, his eyes red with tears. The former star catcher, who is among baseball-obsessed Japan’s most recognized sports figures,
Taiwanese tennis star Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the French Open, after she and German partner Mark Wallner defeated Slovenian Andreja Klepac and Briton Lloyd Glasspool in straight sets, despite temperatures exceeding 32°C in Paris, while Taiwan’s top men’s doubles player Ray Ho also reached the second round. Hsieh, who made it to the semi-finals in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros in 2024, and Wallner defeated Klepac and Glasspool 6-3, 7-5 in just more than an hour, converting three of five break points, while holding their opponents to just one conversion
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