ICE HOCKEY
Devils re-sign center Zajac
The New Jersey Devils re-signed center Travis Zajac to a long-term deal after he helped the team reach the Stanley Cup Finals last season, the National Hockey League team said on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Devils, but media reported it was an eight-year, US$46 million contract. Zajac missed all but 15 games of the 2011-2012 regular season, but returned in time to play a key role in the Devils’ playoff run, scoring 14 points in the team’s 24 post-season games. Zajac, who was selected by the Devils in the first round of the 2004 NHL Draft, missed most of last season with an Achilles injury, but was in stellar form for the post-season. With the Devils facing elimination in the opening round of last year’s playoffs, Zajac scored an overtime goal that forced a decisive seventh game against the Florida Panthers.
CRICKET
Shane Warne faces ban
Australian veteran Shane Warne is facing a new ban for an alleged breach of the spirit of the game in a domestic Twenty20 match, Cricket Australia (CA) said yesterday. The bowling great apologized last week after a foul-mouthed rant against West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels that earned him a ban and a fine in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL). However, in Wednesday night’s semi-final Warne, the official Melbourne Stars skipper, was not listed as captain for the match they lost against Perth Scorchers. Cricket Australia said it had recently sent a memo to BBL teams about the captaincy role. “If a team’s official captain is selected, but not named as captain, this will be considered against the spirit of cricket and may attract a code of behavior charge,” it said. “Warne has been reported for breaching CA’s code of behavior.”
BADMINTON
Salleh to run for president
Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) president Nadzmi Mohd Salleh has confirmed he will run for the top job at the sport’s world governing body at its May elections. Current Badminton World Federation (BWF) president Kang Young-joong of South Korea said last month he would step down from the role in May after eight years at the helm. China head coach Li Yongbo recently declared his support for Nadzmi, while Indonesian Justian Suhandinata has already made clear his intentions to run for the post. Badminton came under fire during the London Olympics in July last year, when four women’s doubles pairs from South Korea, China and Indonesia deliberately played to lose their matches to get a more favorable draw. The BWF disqualified all four pairings and banned them after the farcical scenes raised serious doubts about the game’s future inclusion in future Olympics.
RUGBY UNION
Burger to captain Stormers
Springbok flanker Schalk Burger will captain the Western Stormers in this year’s Super 15 season after recovering from injury, coach Allister Coetzee confirmed on Wednesday. Burger, 29, suffered a knee injury in the opening round of last year’s southern hemisphere provincial championship that kept the forward sidelined all season. Springbok skipper and center Jean de Villiers replaced Burger as leader of the Stormers and now reverts to vice captain as the team seek a first title. The return of 2007 World Cup winner Burger heightens competition for Springbok back-row places, with the Bulls’ Pierre Spies also fit again and ready to challenge incumbents Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen.
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS