BOXING
Aoh edges Italy’s Boschiero
Japan’s Takahiro Aoh defeated the previously unbeaten Devis Boschiero of Italy by a split points decision to successfully defend his WBC super featherweight title on Sunday in Tokyo. Two judges scored it 115-113 in favor of the defending champion, while one judge counted it 116-113 for the Italian. Boschiero tried to make it a brawl and fight at close range, as Aoh attempted to pick him off and targeted the feisty Italian’s stomach. It was the 27-year-old Aoh’s second defense since winning the title in November last year, stretching his record to 22 wins including 10 KOs, against two defeats and a draw. For Boschiero, 30, ranked eighth in the WBC, it was his first defeat after 29 wins, including 14 KOs and a draw. Third ranked Shinsuke Yamanaka of Japan defeated second ranked Christian Esquivel of Mexico by technical knockout 1 minute, 28 seconds into the 11th round to become the new WBC bantamweight champion.
Photo: Reuters
ICE HOCKEY
Blues send Payne packing
The St Louis Blues fired head coach Davis Payne after a slow start to the NHL season and replaced him with Ken Hitchcock, the team said on Sunday. Payne, the first coaching casualty of the young season, was relieved of his duties after leading St Louis to a 6-7 record that left them 13th in the 15-team Western Conference. The Blues failed to make the playoffs since he took over as coach during the 2009-2010 season. Hitchcock, who was coach of the Dallas Stars when they won a Stanley Cup in 1999 and an assistant with Canada when they won gold medals at the 2002 and last year’s Olympics, agreed to a contract through the 2012-2013 season. The 59-year-old last coached in the NHL for the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2009-2010 season and has coached more than 1,000 games with Dallas, Philadelphia and Columbus.
TENNIS
Del Potro pulls out of Paris
Juan Martin del Potro’s hopes of making the ATP Tour finals are over after the Argentine announced on Sunday he was pulling out of this week’s Paris Masters. “I felt pain in my right shoulder in Valencia and it hurt more and more as matches went on,” the injury-prone Del Potro said in a statement released by Paris organizers. “I must now think about rest.” The Tour finals in London between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27 bring together the eight best players in the world. Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer have qualified with the Paris Masters a last chance for others to join them.
SKIING
Vonn attends school dance
Superstar US skier Lindsey Vonn never got a chance to go to her high-school homecoming dance, so she could not resist saying yes to a second chance. During a visit to a Vail skiing academy on Friday, one of the students worked up the courage to ask Vonn to go with him to the homecoming dance that night and she gladly accepted. Vonn’s 15-year-old fan, Parker McDonald, got the thrill of his young life when she agreed to the impromptu date. “Growing up I never got the chance to go to a school dance so I am excited,” said Vonn, who posted pictures of the two together at the dance on her social networking Facebook site.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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