■SOCCER
We can’t beat anyone: coach
China are unable to beat any team, coach Gao Hongbo said after his side qualified for the 2011 Asian Cup finals thanks to a goalless draw at home to Syria. The point gained on Wednesday at the Yellow Dragon Stadium was enough for China to go through from Group D with a game to spare, on the back of third-placed Vietnam’s 1-1 draw with bottom-side Lebanon. “At present the China team is ineligible to win over any opponent,” Gao was quoted by the Beijing News as saying after the match. “We failed to convert three or four opportunities. I feel sorry about that,” said Gao, who received calls from some of the 30,000 crowd to resign.
■SOCCER
Israel coach questioned
The coach of Israel’s national team has confirmed he is under investigation for allegedly smuggling thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes and alcohol into Israel without paying tax on the items. A spokesman for Dror Kashtan says he was questioned by the Israeli Tax Authority on Wednesday and professed his innocence. The spokesman said the incident was an “innocent mistake” made during a personal trip to Russia. The statement says Kashtan is willing to pay any taxes he owes. Israeli newspapers said on Thursday that the 65-year-old Kashtan is suspected of bringing in large amounts of items over several years.
■SOCCER
Fans attack Torino players
The Italian Professional Footballers’ Association (AIC) has threatened to stage protests after a number of Serie B club Torino’s players were attacked by angry fans outside a Turin restaurant late on Wednesday. Former Manchester City forward Rolando Bianchi and defender Riccardo Colombo were slapped after being surrounded by a group of about 25 people, Torino’s players said on the club’s official Web site on Thursday. The group then entered the restaurant where forward David Di Michele was celebrating his birthday and directed “slaps, threats of death and assaults at home, and pushes” at other players in front of their families, the statement said. The fans are furious about the poor form of the team, who are 10th after being relegated from Serie A last season. The AIC said it “expresses totally solidarity with the Torino players who suffered a vile ambush, attacked outside a restaurant after dinner with their families, and firmly condemns this shameful incident. The repetition of such appalling episodes will force the AIC to resort to appropriate acts of protest,” it added on its Web site.
■TENNIS
Wawrinka makes quarters
Swiss third seed Stanislas Wawrinka stormed into the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over American Michael Russell. World No. 21 Wawrinka will next meet seventh seeded German Michael Berrer, who advanced with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Stephane Robert. Olympic doubles gold medalist Wawrinka broke the American in the eighth game to win the first set. Russell broke early in the second to lead 3-1 before the Swiss came back strongly to break his opponent twice with flowing backhands. “I wasn’t serving very good because of the wind,” Wawrinka told reporters of his early stumble in the second set. “He put on the pressure, but I came back well. It was not easy, Russell was playing really well.” Wawrinka, along with Croatian holder Marin Cilic, the second seed, are favorites for the title after Swedish top seed Robin Soderling lost in the first round. Lukas Lacko made it to his first ATP Tour quarter-final when he beat Robby Ginepri 7-6, 6-4.
■BASEBALL
Boston finalize Beltre deal
The Boston Red Sox finalized a one-year contract with Adrian Beltre that guarantees the third baseman US$10 million this year. The deal was agreed to on Tuesday, but subject to Beltre passing a medical exam. Beltre became a free agent after five seasons with Seattle. He’ll take over third base from Mike Lowell, the 2007 World Series Most Valuable Player who had thumb surgery last month. The Red Sox had agreed to trade Lowell to the Texas Rangers for catcher Max Ramirez, but the deal was undone by his injury. Lowell is now expected to be ready for spring training, but Boston may well still seek to trade him. Beltre played just 111 games last season because of injuries. That was his fewest since he was a rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998.
■BASEBALL
MLB mulls Japan series
For decades, the Japanese have been clamoring for a real World Series that pits the best team in Major League Baseball (MLB) against the best team in Japan. That day may be closer than some people expect. At a meeting in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Bud Selig, the MLB commissioner, told his Japanese counterpart, Ryozo Kato, that he was open to the idea of teams from both countries going head-to-head before he retires in 2012. Kato, the commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball, which includes two six-team leagues, has called for an international playoff before. He told Japanese reporters after returning to Japan that he was surprised and encouraged by Selig’s response.
■BASKETBALL
Alston returns to Heat
Veteran NBA point guard Rafer Alston is returning to the Miami Heat, where he played alongside Dwyane Wade in Wade’s rookie season in 2003-2004. Alston’s contract with the New Jersey Nets was bought out on Tuesday and he cleared waivers on Thursday. About an hour later the Heat announced he was back on board and expected to be with the team when they opened a six-game road trip yesterday. Alston played last season for Orlando, when the Magic reached the NBA finals but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers. Alston started 13 of New Jersey’s first 15 games this season — part of the Nets’ woeful 0-18 start. He’s shooting only 34 percent this season.
■GOLF
Wayward ball hits girl
Nathan Green was indebted to a spectator at the SBS Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii, on Thursday after the Australian made a complete mess of the par-three eighth hole in the opening round. Green’s tee shot ended up in waist-high weeds to the left and he pulled his next shot even further away from the putting surface as his club twisted in the grass. Had the ball not struck a girl in the arm, it would have been in deeper trouble. From there, the Australian was able to get up-and-down for a bogey. “It would have been probably unplayable,” Green told reporters of where his second shot could have finished. Green initially feared his ball would hit the girl in the head. “I shot it down and it went straight left up to the back left to where everyone was sitting,” he said. “It looked like it was going to hit this young girl in the head and it ended up catching her on the arm. It sort of ricocheted five yards left. It definitely saved me a shot or two and I gave her the ball and the glove.” Green recorded five birdies over the next 10 holes to end the day just one stroke off the lead after a six-under-par 67. Green was to go into yesterday’s second round a stroke behind pacesetting American Lucas Glover.
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen has become the first female player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after the Golden State Valkyries selected her in the third and final round of the league’s draft on Monday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship earlier this month. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament’s most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as
College basketballer Kaitlyn Chen (陳凱玲) has become the first player of Taiwanese descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, after being selected by the Golden State Valkyries in the third and final round of the league's draft yesterday. Chen, a point guard who played her first three seasons in college for Princeton University, transferred to the University of Connecticut (UConn) for her final season, which culminated in a national championship on April 6. While at Princeton, Chen was named the Ivy League tournament's most outstanding player three times from 2022 to last year. Prior to the draft, ESPN described Chen as a
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
In-form teenager Mirra Andreeva on Thursday crashed out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, after going down in straight sets to fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in the last 16. World No. 7 Andreeva, who already has two titles under her belt this season, lost 6-3, 6-2 against the 22nd-ranked Alexandrova in just over an hour. The 17-year-old Andreeva had defeated her elder sister Erika in the previous round on Wednesday, but Alexandrova quickly took control as she claimed her fourth win over a top-10 player this season. The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in February became the youngest winner of a WTA
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