■SPEEDSKATING
Hedrick edges Davis
Chad Hedrick edged US teammate Shani Davis to win the men’s 1,500m at a World Cup long-track speedskating event on Friday. Hedrick finished in 1 minute, 42.14 seconds, with Davis just 0.05 seconds behind. Denny Morrison of Canada took third in 1 minute, 42.74 seconds. “I’m going in the right direction,” Hedrick said. Mika Poutala of Finland won the men’s 500m in 34.38 seconds. Jamie Gregg of Canada and Joji Kato of Japan were both initially timed at 34.45 seconds and awarded silver medals. The ISU later determined that Kato actually finished 0.006 seconds ahead and demoted Gregg to third place. “Nothing to complain about there,” said Gregg, who still earned his first career World Cup podium finish. “Just got to work to get to the top of the podium.” Jenny Wolf of Germany just barely continued her dominance in the women’s 500m, posting 37.33 seconds to slip past South Korea’s Lee Sang-hwa and Wang Beixing of China, who tied for second with 37.34 seconds. Rising German star Stephanie Beckert won the women’s 3,000m in 3 minutes, 56.80 seconds. Martina Sablikova of the Czech Republic was second and Daniela Anschutz Thoms of Germany came in third.
■SKELETON
Montgomery takes top spot
Jon Montgomery won a World Cup skeleton race on the 2006 Olympic track on Friday in a convincing display by the Canadian team. Montgomery clocked a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 55.54 seconds. World Cup leader Martins Dukurs of Latvia was second, 0.47 seconds behind, and Jeff Pain of Canada was third, 0.51 seconds back. Gearing up for their home Olympics in Vancouver, the Canadians held the top three places after the first run, but Michael Douglas dropped to fourth after the second heat. Olympic silver medalist Shelley Rudman of Britain won the women’s race in 1 minute, 57.46 seconds, leading both heats. Marion Trott of Germany finished second, 0.35 seconds behind, and Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada was third, 0.67 seconds back.
■BASEBALL
Scutaro signs for Red Sox
Shortstop Marco Scutaro signed a two-year US$12.5 million contract with the Boston Red Sox on Friday, boosting their title contender status. The arch-rivals of the reigning World Series champions the New York Yankees were ousted in the first round of the American League playoffs last season and they filled an infield revolving door of seven shortstops since 2004 by inking Scutaro. “We identified Marco as the best free agent and the guy that would be the best fit for the ball club,” general manager Theo Epstein said. Scutaro played with the New York Mets and Oakland A’s, before taking a starting role at Toronto last year and having his best season with 12 home runs, 60 runs batted in and a .282 average.
■ICE HOCKEY
Laviolette to coach Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers replaced coach John Stevens with Peter Laviolette on Friday after the team was shut out in consecutive games. Laviolette led the Carolina Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup title in 2006. He was fired in December last year and was still under contract. Laviolette, who also coached the New York Islanders for two seasons, was 167-130-30 in his four-plus seasons with Carolina. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren made the call to fire Stevens. “I think Paul felt he had to make this change,” Flyers chairman Ed Snider said. “I make it a policy never to overrule my general manager, because once I do, it means I’ve lost confidence in him.”
■SOCCER
Portsmouth pays wages
English Premier League strugglers Portsmouth said on Friday that their players had been paid their wages for last month. The bottom of the table club issued a statement on Thursday confirming that not all their squad had received their salaries for last month on time. A similar situation took place two months ago when players were paid their September wages late. This latest delay was put down to problems arising from the recent takeover of the club by Saudi Arabian businessman Ali al-Faraj from Sulaiman al-Fahim, himself only in charge at Fratton Park for a matter of weeks. “Ali and his advisers have sorted out the small problem there was and the players have been paid in full, I am pleased to say,” Pompey chief executive Peter Storrie told Sky Sports. “The refinancing they have been putting together is actually going very well,” he said. “They want a bit of understanding from fans because they have had a lot of debt to deal with and they have put a lot of money in.”
■CRICKET
England win after washout
England won the series when the fifth and final one-dayer against South Africa was called off because of persistent rain at Kingsmead on Friday. The match was abandoned at 5pm without a ball being bowled. It meant England secured the series 2-1, after the first match was also washed out, and became only the second visiting team to win a bilateral one-day series in South Africa. Australia also achieved series wins in 1996-1997 and 2001-2002. “The win is a big step forward for us and the team looks like it has the potential to work against most teams,” England captain Andrew Strauss told a news conference. “When you achieve wins like this it is a great spur to go forward as a side,” he said.
■SOCCER
German arrested over hoax
A 68-year-old German photographer was arrested for making a hoax bomb threat outside the venue where the World Cup draw was held on Friday, police said. Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said the man was being held in custody and would appear at Cape Town magistrate’s court tomorrow. Naidoo said the man could only be named after he had appeared in court. He declined to name the organization the photographer worked for except to say it was an “agency.” The photographer claimed he had an explosive device in his bag, which he dropped and then tried to flee the scene, Naidoo said. Sniffer dogs and a bomb disposal unit were brought to Cape Town International Convention Center and the main entrance used by journalists was sealed off. People were allowed back into the building about an hour later when police said the threat was over.
■SOCCER
Antlers take J-League title
Kashima Antlers secured an unprecedented third straight J-League championship with a 1-0 win over Urawa Reds yesterday. Shinzo Koroki’s 66th minute header proved the winner in driving rain at Saitama Stadium, and the Antlers clinched the title by a two-point margin. Second-place Kawasaki Frontale trailed Oswaldo de Oliveira’s side by two points entering the final day of the season and had to beat Kashiwa Reysol and rely on Kashima not winning. Kawasaki did defeat Reysol 3-2, with goals from Juninho, North Korean international Chong Tese and Kengo Nakamura.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
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