■SOCCER
Henry escapes punishment
French captain Thierry Henry escaped being punished for his infamous handball incident in the 2010 World Cup finals play-off against Ireland, FIFA announced on Monday. FIFA’s disciplinary committee said they were powerless to punish the 1998 World Cup winning striker because their rules forbade them to do so if the original misdemeanor had not been seen by the match officials. “At its meeting on January 18, 2010, the disciplinary committee reached the conclusion that there was no legal foundation for the committee to consider the case because handling the ball cannot be regarded as a serious infringement as stipulated in article 77(a) of the FIFA disciplinary code,” the statement from the committee said. “There is no other legal text that would allow the committee to impose sanctions for any incidents missed by match officials.”
■FOOTBALL
Ellis to play despite injury
New York Jets player Shaun Ellis says he will play against Indianapolis in the AFC championship game despite a broken left hand that requires surgery. The defensive end was hurt on New York’s first defensive play in their 17-14 playoff win at San Diego on Sunday. Ellis, who says he immediately knew the hand was broken, had a cast put on it and continued to play against the Chargers. The team doctor confirmed the injury. He will have surgery to insert pins and screws after the Indianapolis game and will have to wear a special cast next Sunday.
■CRICKET
England too slow: ICC
England’s crushing innings and 74 run defeat in the fourth and final Test against South Africa was compounded on Monday when the team was fined for maintaining a slow over-rate in Johannesburg. In a statement issued from its Dubai headquarters, the International Cricket Council (ICC) imposed the fine after Andrew Strauss’ team were ruled to be one over short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration. New ICC code of conduct regulations governing minor overrate offenses stipulate that players be fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount. Therefore, Strauss was fined 20 percent of his match fee, while his players received 10 percent fines. If Strauss is found guilty of two further minor over-rate offenses in Tests over the next year, he will receive a one-match suspension.
■SOCCER
Ibrahimovic honored
Former Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was named Italian players’ association player of the year on Monday despite now being with Barcelona. The awards, known as the Italian soccer Oscars, were voted on by Italy-based players during the offseason and reflect performances during the 2008-2009 campaign. This allowed Sweden’s Ibrahimovic, top scorer last term with 25 goals, to win the best player and best foreign player awards having joined Barcelona in July. His former coach Jose Mourinho, who has often clashed with rival managers and journalists but is respected by players throughout the game, won the best coach award after leading Inter to last season’s Serie A title in his first campaign in charge. Inter were elected team of the year. The best Italian player awards went to AS Roma and Italy’s midfielder Daniele De Rossi, while Inter’s Julio Cesar was voted top goalkeeper. Best young player was AC Milan’s Brazilian Alexandre Pato and the defender award went to Juventus center back Giorgio Chiellini.
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
France head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday lauded his team’s attacking performance after their dazzling 36-14 victory over Ireland in their Six Nations opener. A brace of tries from Louis Bielley-Biarrey and one from mercurial flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert helped France storm into a 29-0 lead before taking their foot off the gas and allowing Ireland back into the match, before winger Theo Attissogbe put some gloss on the victory late on. “In an attacking sense, with the ball, the team played with great accuracy,” Galthie said. “It was one of the most accurate attacking performances in a long time, despite the weather
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