■JUDO
Wang, Nakamura win gold
South Korea’s Wang Ki-chun retained his under-73kg title at the world judo championships on Thursday, while Japan’s Misato Nakamura clinched the women’s under-52kg crown. Olympic Games silver medalist Wang was the favorite going into the tournament, having won the Paris and Moscow Grand Slam titles this season, and claimed his victory over North Korea’s Kim Choi-su. Nakamura, who saw off Chinese favorite He Hongmei in the quarter-finals, added world gold to her bronze medal from the Beijing Olympics. She achieved victory with a waza-ari over Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy. In the women’s under-57kg division, France’s Morgane Ribout took gold, beating Telma Monteiro of Portugal with a yuko.
■CYCLING
Van Der Ploeg wins in Dili
A tense duel between Australian cyclists marked the climax to the grueling Tour de Timor yesterday, with Neil Van Der Ploeg pedaling to victory despite a narrow loss in the final stage. Van Der Ploeg, a 21-year-old student, lost by a few meters in the final 92.5km haul back to East Timor’s capital Dili to fellow Australian Mark Frendo, who came third overall. Another Australian, Benjamin Grieve-Johnson, came second in the five-day, 450km, all-amateur race across the tiny half-island. The race, the first of its kind in the tiny country, is part of celebrations of the 10th anniversary tomorrow of East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia.
■ICE HOCKEY
Patrick Kane pleads guilty
Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and his cousin pleaded guilty to a noncriminal charge of disorderly conduct on Thursday and were ordered to send an apology to the cab driver they were accused of roughing up over 20 cents. The 20-year-old player and his 21-year-old cousin, James Kane, were given conditional discharges, meaning they will avoid any penalties if they stay out of trouble for a year and write apologies to cabbie Jan Radecki. “Obviously, I’m in a little different situation than most kids at this age, but at the same time I think it’s definitely been a learning lesson and something I want to move forward on,” Kane told City Court Judge Thomas Amodeo.
■RUGBY UNION
Emtage quits the Reds
Troubled Australian Super 14 club Queensland Reds suffered a further setback yesterday when assistant coach Damon Emtage left to take up a job as a school teacher. Emtage, who served as backs coach, is the latest in a growing line of staff to ditch the Reds, including international playmaker Berrick Barnes, chief executive Ken Freer, chairman Peter Lewis and high-performance manager Ben Whitaker. Meanwhile, assistant Australia coach Richard Graham announced he was joining the Western Force on a two-year-deal. Graham will continue in his role with the Wallabies’ head coach Robbie Deans, but will combine his national duties with Super 14.
■FOOTBALL
Judges backs Vick’s plan
Michael Vick was relieved to have a US$20 million bankruptcy reorganization plan approved by a federal judge on Thursday, hours before his return to the National Football League. A vote by creditors showed overwhelming endorsement of the plan which was approved by US Bankruptcy Judge Frank Santoro ahead of Vick’s comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles after serving jail time for funding a dogfight ring. “I’m moving on with my life,” Vick said as he departed the court room. “I’m glad to get it all done and I’m hoping to move forward.”
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For