■BASEBALL
‘Mr Baseball’ dies
Major League Baseball is mourning the loss of former shortstop, catcher, manager and coach Bobby Bragan, 92, who died at his home in Fort Worth on Thursday. Dubbed “Mr Baseball” for his lifelong dedication and service to the game, Bragan represented the Philadelphia Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers as a player before spending seven seasons as a manager. In 2005, at the age of 87 years, nine months and 16 days, he became the oldest manager of a professional baseball game when he came out of retirement to take charge of the Fort Worth Cats. “On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am terribly saddened today by the passing of Bobby Bragan,” league commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.
■HOCKEY
Hall of Famer suffers stroke
Hall of Fame National Hockey League player Jean Beliveau was on the mend in hospital on Friday following a mild stroke, the Montreal Gazette reported. Beliveau, who won 10 Stanley Cup championships with the Montreal Canadiens, suffered a mild stroke on Wednesday night. The 78-year-old Beliveau was taken to Montreal General Hospital where he remained overnight on Friday in the neurological wing. He played 18 seasons with the Canadiens, scoring 507 goals and 712 assists in 1,125 games. He captained the Canadiens for 10 seasons and won two Hart Trophies and one Conn Smythe Trophy.
■SKI JUMPING
Austrian takes jump victory
Austria’s Gregor Schlierenzauer secured the 30th ski jumping World Cup victory of his career at the age of just 20 when he won the first of two events here on Friday. Schlierenzauer won with jumps of 138m and 133m for a total of 298.8 points, ahead of his Swiss rival Simon Ammann, whose jumps of 136m and 131m gave him 278.1 points. Another Austrian, Thomas Morgenstern, took third place with 266.2 points after jumps measuring 130.5m and 128.5m. Local hero Adam Malysz finished fifth (263.4 points), while Finland’s Janne Ahonen, who has returned to the sport after reversing his decision to retire in spring 2008, claimed seventh place with 249.6 points.
■SKELETON
Huber wins World Cup
Germany’s Anja Huber won the final skeleton World Cup event of the season with the fastest time in both heats on Friday, and Mellisa Hollingsworth of Canada claimed the overall title. Huber finished in a combined time of one hour, 49 minutes, 57 seconds. Her German teammate Kerstin Szymkowiak moved up from fifth after the first heat to finish second in one hour, 49 minutes, 93 seconds. Hollingsworth was third in one hour, 49 minutes, 96 seconds for her seventh podium finish in eight starts, and her No. 1 world ranking means she will start first at the Vancouver Olympics next month. Defending Olympic silver medalist Shelley Rudman of Great Britain finished fourth, followed by American Noelle Pikus-Pace and Marion Trott of Germany.
■SNOWBOARDING
Finn takes halfpipe title
Finland’s Janne Korpi won a World Cup halfpipe competition on Friday, beating Canadian Jeff Batchelor. China’s Cai Xuetong edged teammate Sun Zhifeng for the women’s title. Korpi finished with 45.7 points to beat Batchelor (44.3) and Finland’s Antti Autti (41.8). Batchelor earned a spot on the Canadian Olympic team with the top-five finish. Cai earned 46.6 points and Sun finished at 42.7.
■GOLF
Thorpe gets jail sentence
Jim Thorpe, a triple winner on the US PGA Tour, has been given a one-year jail sentence for failing to pay more than US$2 million in income tax. A Florida court ruled the 60-year-old must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by April 1 and that his sentence be followed by two years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. Thorpe must also make efforts to repay the tax while on supervised release. He pleaded guilty in September. Thorpe won more than US$13 million in career earnings as a professional golfer, PGA Tour Web site figures showed. Prosecutors said that for 2002, 2003 and 2004, Thorpe did not file an individual tax return until after he was confronted by special agents of the Internal Revenue Service.
■SOCCER
Essien out four to six weeks
Chelsea and Ghana midfielder Michael Essien will be out of action for up to six weeks after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with a knee injury, his club announced on Friday. The 27-year-old damaged cartilage while training in Angola and although the injury has not proved as serious as first feared, he is unlikely to return before early March. “He had a tear in the meniscus and he has to stay out for four to six weeks,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “I hope four.” The lay-off means Essien will miss Chelsea’s potentially pivotal Premier League meeting with Arsenal and the first leg of the club’s Champions League second-round tie against Inter in Milan.
■SOCCER
PSV pull clear at the top
Sweden striker Ola Toivonen struck twice to inspire leaders PSV Eindhoven to a comfortable 3-0 home win over NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch league on Friday. Toivonen took his goal tally this season to 10 in the league by knocking in a cross from Carlos Salcido midway through the first half and pouncing again in the 61st minute. Nordin Amrabat made sure of victory with a last-minute effort against fourth from bottom Nijmegen. PSV have 51 points from 19 matches, three ahead of Twente Enschede, who travel to Groningen today. Third-placed Ajax (39 points) host AZ Alkmaar today and Feyenoord (37 points), in fourth, visit VVV Venlo.
■SOCCER
Basile resigns from Boca
Boca Juniors coach Alfio Basile resigned on Friday following his team’s humiliating 3-1 defeat by bitter rivals River Plate in a summer-recess friendly. “A man who has done a lot for the club has just resigned and [reserve team coach] Abel Alves is taking interim charge,” Boca president Jorge Amor Ameal told a press conference. Basile, whose side fell to River in Mar del Plata on Wednesday, was unable to build a successful team in his second spell at Boca since his return last July, having lifted several titles with the club between 2005 and 2006. It is the second failed comeback of the 66-year-old’s career after he flopped with the national team in his 2006 to 2008 spell, having steered Argentina to successive Copa America victories in 1991 and 1993.
■BOXING
Viloria collapses after defeat
Hawaiian Brian Viloria collapsed soon after his defeat by Colombia’s Carlos Tamara in yesterday’s IBF light flyweight title fight, local media reported. Referee Bruce McTavish stopped the fight 1 minute, 45 seconds into the 12th and final round. Local media reported that Viloria collapsed in his changing room minutes after the bout and was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. There was no official word on his condition.
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
After nearly six years away from the NBA, New Taipei Kings player Jeremy Lin (林書豪) is set to participate in the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars mini-tournament as the coach of Team G League. The NBA announced Monday (U.S. time) that the Taiwanese-American player will join a trio of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers – Tim Hardaway Sr., Chris Mullin, and Mitch Richmond – as honorary coaches for four teams featuring 28 rising talents. "See you soon in the Bay," Lin wrote in an Instagram story sharing the news. As the All-Star Weekend will take place at
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38