■BASKETBALL
Tour ends on sour note
Maccabi Tel Aviv ended their NBA tour on a sour note after money and belongings were stolen from their locker room at Staples Center arena, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. The alleged theft occurred during a game on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Staples. The newspaper said the Los Angeles police were notified of the incident, which was reported at half-time of the 108-96 loss to the Clippers. The Staples Center game was the second of two exhibitions games Maccabi played against NBA clubs. The first game was a 106-91 loss to the New York Knicks on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
■CRICKET
Gibbs, Ntini left out
Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini have been left out of South Africa’s squad for one-day international matches against Zimbabwe and England. “It is never easy to leave out senior players, particularly when they are men of the caliber of Herschelle Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini who have given such wonderful service over a long period of time,” team selector Mike Proctor said in a statement yesterday. “But we also have to keep looking forward and reward those players who are knocking strongly on the door.” The 35-year-old Gibbs last played in South Africa’s loss to England by 22 runs in the Champions Trophy last month. Ntini, who was named in the Champions Trophy squad but did not play a game, last played a one-dayer against Australia in April. The squad named yesterday covers the two-match series against Zimbabwe starting on Nov. 8 and the first three of a five-match series against England. Cricket South Africa also named the squad that will play England in two Twenty20 matches. All-rounder Ryan McLaren is in line to make his international debut after being included in both the ODI and T20 squads, while 34-year-old swing bowler Charl Langeveldt, a former Kolpak player with Derbyshire, has been recalled for both squads. Opening batsman Alviro Petersen, who played the last of his five ODIs in March last year, has also been recalled.
■SOCCER
Marathon make last eight
Marathon of Honduras and Comunicaciones of Guatemala reached the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League with victories on Thursday in the final round of group games. Marathon defeated San Juan Jabloteh 4-2 on three second-half goals by Jerry Nelson Palacios in a match played in Trinidad. The victory gave Marathon 12 points in six games and secured second place in Group B. Comunicaciones defeated Pumas of Mexico 2-1 in a Group D game. Comunicaciones finished second behind Pumas with nine points.
■SOCCER
Atletico axe coach Resino
Atletico de Madrid fired coach Abel Resino yesterday after a disastrous start to the Spanish league season. “Abel Resino is no longer the first team coach of Atletico de Madrid as of Friday,” the club said on its Web site. He was replaced on an interim basis by his assistant, Santi Denia, Atletico’s sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch told a news conference. Spanish media said Denmark’s Michael Laudrup had rejected an offer to take over as Resino’s permanent replacement. Other names floated are former AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti and Quique Sanchez Flores, the ex-coach of Getafe, Valencia and of Benfica. Resino, 49, has been at Atletico since February when he replaced Mexican Javier Aguirre. Atletico, who finished fourth in the Primera Liga last season, are currently in 15th place.
■SOCCER
Ritual slaughter proposed
Will South Africa be the scene of ritualized slaughter in the run-up to the World Cup next year? Yes — if traditional leaders in the country have their way. An organization that represents the country’s royal households on special projects is demanding that a cow be slaughtered at each of the 10 World Cup stadiums in South Africa, in keeping with African ancestral beliefs. “It is important because we need to bless these stadiums. We never had something humongous like this [the World Cup] in this country,” Zolani Mkiva, chairman of the Makhonya Royal Trust, told reporters. Slaughtering a beast on the pitch of each stadium after it is completed would be “a kind of warming ceremony,” said Mkiva, a kubonga or praise-singer to former president Nelson Mandela. While it is customary among some of South Africa’s cultural groups to sacrifice a beast, either in celebration of a birth, wedding or other happy occasion, or to commemorate a deceased relative, it is not traditional to spill blood at soccer stadiums. Mkiva said the trust had sought a meeting with the World Cup local organizing committee to discuss the proposal. “I am confident they will accept the proposal,” he said.
■FORMULA ONE
FIA meet to elect president
The FIA General Assembly opened yesterday in Paris with the election of a new president to succeed Max Mosley the No. 1 item on the agenda for delegates. Jean Todt and Ari Vatanen are the two candidates vying for the position as head of motorsport’s ruling body, which will be decided by a ballot involving the 211 national sporting authorities and national automobile associations.
■FOOTBALL
Rape trial to continue
A Nevada judge on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of raping a woman at a hotel-casino at Lake Tahoe. Washoe District Judge Brent Adams also refused a request by a lawyer for the two-time Super Bowl champ to sanction the woman’s attorney for pursuing the case without sufficient evidence. “Big Ben” Roethlisberger’s lawyer David Cornwell says the judge is apparently giving the woman the benefit of the doubt until there can be a fuller examination of her claims.
■FOOTBALL
LA-area stadium approved
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill allowing the construction of a 75,000-seat stadium that developers hope will lure an NFL team back to the Los Angeles area. Schwarzenegger said on Thursday he signed the environmental exemption bill last week but saved the announcement for a press conference in Industry, where the stadium will be built about 24km east of Los Angeles. The bill would nullify a lawsuit filed by residents in nearby Walnut over the project’s environmental impact. Schwarzenegger called the lawsuit frivolous as he addressed a crowd of union members wearing hardhats. Across the street, a dozen protesters held signs saying “No Stadium.”
■BASEBALL
Sacked Dodgers CEO to sue
Jamie McCourt will launch legal action after she was fired as Los Angeles Dodgers CEO by her estranged husband, team owner Frank McCourt, a day after the club lost the National League Championship Series (NLCS). Attorney Dennis Wasser said his client, Jamie McCourt, learned she was no longer employed by the Dodgers, who ended their season on Wednesday.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS