FOOTBALL
Eagles’ stadium going green
The Philadelphia Eagles will add solar panels and wind turbines at their home stadium, saying on Thursday it will be the world’s first stadium with self-generating renewable energy. The US football club’s joint venture with Solar Blue, a Florida firm that will invest US$30 million in the project over the next year, will also include a duel-fuel co-generation plant at Lincoln Financial Field. The plan, scheduled to be finished in time for the September’s start of next year’s National Football League season, will see 80 spiral-shaped wind turbines attached atop the stadium and 2,500 solar panels installed. Nature gas and bio-diesel fuel will power the co-generation plant.
SOCCER
Work on UK center to begin
Building work on England’s much-delayed National Football Center will begin in January, the Football Association (FA) said on Thursday. The £105 million (US$167 million) project, which was first suggested in 2001, has been repeatedly put back because of doubts over funding. The site will be in Burton-upon-Trent, central England. The center, widely expected to be an English version of France’s Clairefontaine academy, is due to be completed in mid 2012 after the FA board agreed to underwrite the project. “St George’s Park will be a world-class facility providing top-class education for future generations of English football coaches,” David Sheepshanks, FA board member and chairman of the National Football Centre board, said in a statement. The center will act as a hub to 1,400 coaches whose job it will be to train a further 250,000 coaches to work in clubs and communities by 2018.
SOCCER
Emenalo moves to Chelsea
Chelsea have named Nigerian Michael Emenalo as their assistant manager, the Premier League leaders said on Thursday. The 45-year-old replaces Ray Wilkins as Carlo Ancelotti’s right-hand man. Wilkins left Stamford Bridge last week for undisclosed reasons. Emenalo joined Chelsea in 2007 and has been working as the club’s Head Opposition Scout. He represented Nigeria as a defender at the 1994 World Cup and played for clubs including Molenbeek in Belgium, England’s Notts County and San Jose Clash in the US.
RUGBY UNION
All Black Simpson dies
Johnny Simpson, a rugged prop who played 33 matches including nine tests for New Zealand in the late 1940s, has died aged 88, family members said. Simpson was a member of the famous New Zealand Army rugby team which toured Britain immediately after World War II, playing in 18 of its 33 matches including those against England, Wales and Scotland which it won. He first played for the All Blacks on their 1947 tour to Australia and toured South Africa with the 1949 team, playing in all four tests. Although the All Blacks lost the series 4-0, Simpson established an acclaimed front row partnership with hooker Has Catley and prop Kevin Skinner. He was an athletic prop who became know as the “Iron Man” for his strength and resilience.
SKELETON
World champ Staehli dies
Switzerland’s Gregor Staehli, the reigning world skeleton champion, announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday. Staehli, 42, was forced to pull out of this year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver due to a thigh injury. As well as three world titles, in 1994, 2007 and last year, the Swiss also has two Olympic bronze medals from 2002 and 2006.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible