SOCCER
Everton Ribeiro wins award
Cruzeiro’s Everton Ribeiro has been named Brazil’s player of the year, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said on Friday. The attacking midfielder, who is being watched by Manchester United according to media reports, was Cruzeiro’s standout player as they ran away with Brazil’s Serie A title. Cruzeiro dominated the end-of-season awards with their coach Marcelo Oliveira claiming the manager of the year prize and four players making the championship’s team of the season. Goalkeeper Fabio, central defender Dede, and holding midfielder Nilton, all joined Ribeiro in the side. Second-placed Atletico Paranaense, who lost the Brazilian Cup final to Flamengo on Wednesday, had three players in the team and striker Marcelo was named young player of the year. The coaches and captains of Brazil’s 20 first division sides voted, along with top journalists and members of the Brazil international squad.
SOCCER
Trio charged over hacking
Three men including a referee have been charged following allegations of computer hacking and the sharing of private information at the English Football Association (FA), police said on Friday. Dean Mohareb, a 30-year-old referee, has been charged with perverting the course of justice and unauthorized access to computer data, while Liam Cliff, 18, and Vincent Rossi, 46, have been charged with perverting the course of justice. All three live in the Manchester area of northwest England. They will appear at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, Greater Manchester Police said. Mohareb, a Football League referee, is national referee development manager at the FA, making him a senior member of the referees department. He was first arrested in October last year over allegations that he hacked a colleague’s e-mails. Mohareb was suspended by the FA in February. It is believed that the other two men are not FA employees. The FA has declined to comment on the matter while legal proceedings are going on.
SOCCER
Incentive scheme agreed
Germany’s players would each earn a payout of 300,000 euros (US$408,300) if they win the World Cup in Brazil. The German Football Federation (DFB) says team captain Philipp Lahm and the rest of the players quickly agreed to keep the same incentive scheme that was in place for last year’s European Championship in Poland and Ukraine. The scheme only kicks in after the second round, with each player receiving 50,000 euros for reaching the quarter-finals, 100,000 euros for reaching the semi-finals and 150,000 euros for the final — doubled if successful.
FORMULA ONE
Malaysian has Mercedes test
Malaysian Jazeman Jaafar carried out a driver evaluation test with the Mercedes team at the Silverstone circuit in England on Friday. The 21-year-old, who is backed by the team’s Malaysian oil company partner Petronas, was at the wheel of a 2011 car that he drove in a Kuala Lumpur street event in March and at a Silverstone filming day in June. “I have always known I want to reach the height of F1 but, if I had any doubts, after today I just want it even more,” said the Malaysian, who has raced in both British Formula Three and Formula Renault 3.5 this year. Malaysia, which hosts a round of the Formula One championship, has only ever had one grand prix driver — Alex Yoong, who competed for now-defunct Minardi without scoring a point in 2001-2002.
BASKETBALL
Jeremy Lin sprains knee
Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin is to miss two weeks with a sprained right knee, the team said on Friday. A statement on the team’s Twitter feed said Lin was hurt in the first quarter of the Rockets’ 113-84 victory over Atlanta on Wednesday. Lin, the Taiwanese-American who became an NBA sensation as a Knicks reserve-turned-star in the 2011-2012 season, had started the past three games for the Rockets in place of James Harden, who was nursing a sore foot. In 16 games this season, Lin is averaging 15.3 points and 4.5 assists.
CRICKET
Lackluster England draw
Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar shared seven wickets yesterday to put a positive spin on an otherwise lackluster performance by England in a drawn two-day tour match against a Chairman’s XI. Swann took 4-56 from 23 overs and Panesar 3-41 from 19 as the local side declared on 254-8, in reply to England’s first innings of 212-7 declared. England was 47-1 in their second innings at stumps, with Michael Carberry 37 not out and Gary Ballance 8 not out. The form of Swann and Panesar gives the England tour selectors food for thought as they consider taking two spinners into the second Ashes Test, which starts in Adelaide on Thursday.
GOLF
OneAsia drops tournament
OneAsia have dropped their inaugural Tour Championship from this year’s schedule after failing to secure enough big-name players for the US$2 million tournament. The event was announced in May and scheduled to take place at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China, next month, but will now be part of an expanded schedule next year, a spokesman for the Asia-Pacific tour said. “The tournament promoters set a high bar for the inaugural championship, but unfortunately several of the targeted players already had commitments, so the first edition has been postponed until next year,” he said.
FOOTBALL
Incognito to get pay
Miami Dolphins lineman Richie Incognito, one of the central figures in a bullying saga engulfing the team, will continue his indefinite suspension, but will now receive pay, the National Football League (NFL) Network reported on Friday. The Dolphins reached an agreement with Incognito to extend the offensive lineman’s ban, while NFL appointee Ted Wells completes his independent investigation into the team’s workplace, according to the network. Incognito was suspended indefinitely by Miami on Nov. 3 for detrimental conduct after being singled out by tackle Jonathan Martin, who left the team in emotional distress over what he later alleged to be bullying and harassment. Incognito, who is losing more than US$235,000 for every game he is suspended, filed a grievance against the Dolphins earlier this month for the indefinite suspension.
FORMULA ONE
Bahrain eyes night race
Bahrain circuit officials were to test a new floodlight system this weekend as part of their plans to turn their 10th anniversary Formula One Grand Prix next year into a night race. Bahrain International Circuit chief executive Salman bin Isa Al-Khalifa said in a statement on Friday that a round of the world endurance championship at the circuit yesterday and today would test the first phase of the project. Singapore currently hosts Formula One’s only full night race.
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
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
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