SOCCER
N Korean joins Swiss club
North Korea defender Cha Jong-hyok has arrived in Switzerland to play for second-tier club FC Wil more than three months after his signing was announced during the World Cup. Wil says on its Web site that Cha joined teammates — including compatriot Kim Kuk-jin — for his first practice on Monday. The club says the 25-year-old player’s move was delayed by structural changes at the North Korean soccer federation. Cha started all three matches for North Korea at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Wil lie 14th in the 16-team Swiss second division.
TENNIS
Date downs Robson in Osaka
Four-time champion Kimiko Date Krumm needed just over an hour to beat Britain’s Laura Robson in the first round at the Japan Open in Osaka yesterday. The 40-year-old Japanese powered through 6-3, 6-3. The 16-year-old Robson hit six double faults and managed to break Date, the sixth seed in Osaka, only once in four attempts. Another former champion, Jill Craybas, joined Date in the second round by beating Natalie Grandin of South Africa 6-4, 6-2. Third seed Shahar Peer of Israel and seventh seed Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic safely went through, but eighth seed Greta Arn of Hungary fell to Olga Savchuk of Ukraine 6-1, 6-2. Peer outclassed up-and-coming Japanese Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-3, while Benesova downed American Christina McHale 6-4, 6-3. Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn overcame an early service break in the second set to beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-5.
SOCCER
Benjani quits internationals
Zimbabwe team captain Benjani Mwaruwari told state media yesterday that he has quit international soccer to concentrate on his career in England’s Premier League. The 32-year-old forward, who signed a one-year deal with Blackburn Rovers in August, announced his decision just days after Zimbabwe were held to a goalless draw by Cape Verde. “After the game I went to speak with [team coach] Norman [Mapeza] and thanked him for giving me a chance to play in the game against Cape Verde and that I was sorry we couldn’t do enough to win the game and get maximum points,” he said in the Herald newspaper. “I still have a few more years playing club football, but I feel that I have done my part for my country, and it’s sad that things didn’t work out the way we wanted and probably I didn’t get the number of goals that the supporters wanted me to score.”
HOCKEY
Tests show Pavelec fainted
Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec apparently fainted in his team’s NHL season opener, but the Czech will undergo more medical tests as a precaution. Pavelec collapsed during Friday’s 4-2 victory over Washington, falling backward onto the ice and suffering a concussion seemingly for no reason while players were at the other end of the ice awaiting a face off. The Thrashers said on Monday that tests showed Pavelec had fainted, which could have been brought about by conditions such as stress and prolonged standing. Pavelec, 23, was unconscious and taken from the ice on a stretcher, not regaining consciousness until he was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital, where he spent two nights undergoing tests on his brain and heart. Doctors released Pavelec on Sunday after finding no major problems but he will have more tests. Only if all tests are negative will he be allowed to resume play after his concussion headaches clear.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
Ferrari’s F1 fortunes might be flagging, but the Italian team start this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as favorites, targeting a third consecutive triumph in motorsport’s fabled endurance classic. Roger Federer is acting as celebrity starter with the tennis icon getting the 93rd edition of the jewel in four-wheeled endurance racing’s crown under way tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later, through daylight, darkness and dawn, the 21 elite hypercars are to battle it out over 300 laps (more than 4,000km) in front of a sold-out 320,000 crowd burning the midnight oil with copious quantities of coffee and beer. Ferrari made a triumphant return after
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