SOCCER
New Chinese coach named
China named Croatia’s Miroslav Blazevic the new head coach of its Olympic team yesterday, state media reported. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) is bringing Blazevic in after the team’s poor performance at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last month, the official Xinhua news agency said. He replaces Chinese coach Sun Wei. Blazevic signed a two-year contract with the CFA, which expires in December 2012, Xinhua said. Li Bing was named assistant coach. Blazevic, 75, who coached Croatia to third place in the 1998 World Cup, led the Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua to third place this year. He resigned as Bosnia’s national coach last year after the team failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup.
BASEBALL
LA Angels sign Downs
The Los Angeles Angels have bolstered their bullpen by signing left-handed reliever Scott Downs to a three-year contract, the club said on Friday. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Free agent Downs, 34, who pitched the last five seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays, has been one of the league’s most durable middle relievers. In 67 appearances for Toronto this past season, Downs was 5-5 with a 2.64 ERA. Since 2007, he has compiled an ERA of 2.36, which was the lowest among left-handed relievers over the span and fifth lowest overall in the American League.
LUGE
Huefner notches up win
Olympic champion Tatjana Huefner gave Germany its 101st straight women’s World Cup victory on Friday, leading a one-two sweep for her third win in three races this season. Huefner had a two-run time of one minute, 33.658 seconds at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. “It was a very difficult race. My two runs were not so good, but I was happy to still lead,” Huefner said. “Conditions were very difficult because it was so cold tonight. No grip.” She opened the season with victories in Igls, Austria, and Winterberg, Germany. Germany’s Anke Wischnewski was second in 1:33.801 and the US’ Erin Hamlin was third in 1:33.955.
BOBSLED
Russia duo win World Cup
Russia’s Alexsandr Zubkov and Dmitry Trunenkov overcame poor visibility to win the men’s two-man bobsled World Cup event in Park City, Utah, on Friday night. The Russian team finished in one minute, 37.33 seconds — 0.14 ahead of the Italian team of Simone Bertazzo and Sergio Riva. Germans Andreas Bredau and Manuel Machata took third (1:37.87) after Germany 2 was disqualified for having a brakeman who wasn’t registered in the event. Snow began falling during the second run of the men’s race. “My vision was not very clear, especially on the second run,” said Zubkov, who came out of retirement after crashing in the four-man race in the Vancouver Olympics.
SNOWBOARD
Karl wins giant slalom event
Olympic silver medalist Benjamin Karl of Austria won a snowboard parallel giant slalom World Cup event on Friday. Karl led an all-Austrian podium, beating teammate Andreas Prommegger in the big final, while Manuel Veith edged Swiss boarder Nevin Galmarini in the small final. There was an all-Russian podium in the women’s event, with Ekaterina Tudegesheva beating Alena Zavarzina for first and Svetlana Boldykova finishing ahead of Austria’s Claudia Riegler for third.
FOOTBALL
Patriots’ Spikes suspended
New England Patriots rookie linebacker Brandon Spikes has been suspended for four games without pay for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, the league said on Friday. The suspension for the unnamed substance was effective immediately, starting with today’s game against the Chicago Bears, the NFL said in a statement. Spikes will be eligible to return to the Patriots on Monday, Jan. 3, following the team’s final regular season game against the Miami Dolphins. He would be eligible to participate in all playoff games, should the Patriots qualify for the postseason. “The substance was a medication that I should have gotten clarification on before taking. It was not a performance enhancer or an illegal drug,” Spikes said.
RUGBY SEVENS
Kiwis trounce England
New Zealand powered to a 20-7 win over England at the South Africa Sevens on Friday to send last week’s Dubai winner into a quarter-final against host South Africa. England hasn’t beaten New Zealand in South Africa since 2003, and the Kiwis were highly motivated to avenge a loss to the English in the Dubai semi-finals last weekend. As winners of Pool C, New Zealand will face Argentina in Saturday’s quarters. Defending series champion Samoa gave up a 14-0 lead with a minute remaining to draw 14-14 with Fiji, who took top spot in Pool B. Fiji faces Australia in the last eight while Samoa plays Pool A winner Wales. South Africa beat Argentina 29-5 in Friday’s final game for a 3-0 record in the pool stage.
CRICKET
Pair denied play in league
The Pakistan Cricket Board has refused permission for former captain Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal to play league cricket in Bangladesh. The pair had applied for no-objection certificates after they were overlooked for Pakistan’s tour to New Zealand starting this month. “I was very keen to go and play in the Bangladesh league, but the board has told us to just focus on playing in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in domestic cricket,” Akmal told reporters. “I had got a good offer and wanted to go and play there, but unfortunately the clearance has not come.”
TENNIS
Navratilova gets ill on climb
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova was recovering in a Nairobi hospital on Friday after suffering a pulmonary edema during a charity climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Navratilova, who was leading a team of 27 climbers to raise funds for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation charity, fell ill on the fourth day of the climb up Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895m. The 54-year-old, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, was helped down the mountain and flown to Nairobi for further tests that revealed the edema.
FOOTBALL
Fines levied for hard hits
Philadelphia defensive end Trent Cole topped the list of fines imposed by the NFL for improper hits last week, when he was fined US$20,000 for striking Houston quarterback Matt Schaub in the knee area last week, the NFL’s Web site reported on Friday. Four other players were also sanctioned by the league: Detroit Lion defensive end Cliff Avril was fined US$15,000; Arizona Cardinals defensive end Alan Branch was docked US$10,000; Buffalo Bills running back Quinton Ganther was hit with a US$5,000, while Bills guard Andy Levitre was fined $7,500.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
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