LEAGUE ONE
Luton Town earn promotion
Former English League Cup winners Luton Town will return to the Football League after a five-year hiatus next season after they were assured promotion from the fifth-tier Conference Premier on Tuesday. Luton, who beat Arsenal to win the League Cup in 1988 and spent 10 years in the top tier of English soccer from 1982 to 1992, had their promotion confirmed as second-placed Cambridge United were beaten 2-0 by Kidderminster. Luton lead fellow former league club Cambridge by 10 points with just three matches to go. Luton’s average attendance of 7,266 this season is higher than that of all but two sides in League Two and would rank them 10th in League One. Luton’s fall from grace was dramatic, comprising three straight relegations that have seen them languish in non-league soccer since the 2009-2010 season.
WORLD CUP
Veterans out of Italy squad
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli on Tuesday ruled veterans AS Roma captain Francesco Totti, Hellas Verona’s Luca Toni and Antonio di Natale of Udinese out of his FIFA World Cup squad as he backed Giuseppe Rossi and a clutch of emerging younger players. Toni’s dream of traveling to Brazil was boosted by his 17-goal tally in Serie A this season, but he was still left out of the group of 42 from which Prandelli will select his 23-man squad. Rossi, who led the league scoring charts before suffering a knee injury in January, has always had the backing of the 56-year-old Prandelli, who appeared to leave the door open to the Fiorentina striker. However, the coach said Rossi’s World Cup future may hinge on fitness tests. Rossi is expected to make the trip to Brazil alongside No. 1 forward pick Mario Balotelli of AC Milan, but younger talents like Mattia Destro of Roma and Torino’s Ciro Immobile, who tops Serie A scoring on 19 goals, are also in the reckoning
WORLD CUP
Opener venue still not done
Construction firm Odebrecht on Tuesday handed the new FIFA 2014 World Cup stadium in Sao Paulo over to owners Corinthians, although work still needs to be done ahead of a handover to FIFA set for May 20. In a symbolic handover to the first-division outfit, Odebrecht’s Antonio Gavioli handed a commemorative plaque to club chairman Mario Gobbi and former chairman Andres Sanchez. The Corinthians Arena, which will host Brazil’s curtain-raiser against Croatia on June 12, has been beset by delays, following two fatal accidents which killed three workers. Gobbi conceded that “a few weeks work” are still required to finalize the venue, with temporary stands still to be finished off. FIFA had originally demanded that all 12 World Cup venues be ready by Dec. 31 last year, but worker fatalities brought construction to a temporary standstill pending tightened worker security. In total, seven stadium workers have been killed during Brazil’s Cup preparations — the three in Sao Paulo, three at Manaus and one in Brasilia.
WORLD CUP
Final tickets for Rio on sale
World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, on Tuesday opened the final phase of World Cup tickets sales and reported that 126,837 of the 199,519 available for 54 of the tournament’s 64 matches were snapped up in four hours. Brazilians bagged two-thirds of the latest sales, FIFA said, accounting for 80,496 tickets, with 46,341 tickets going to fans outside the host nation on a first come, first serve basis via the body’s Web site. Prior to Tuesday, FIFA said that 2,577,662 tickets had already been allocated.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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