SOCCER
Del Bosque stays with Spain
Vicente del Bosque on Thursday confirmed his intention to stay on as coach of Spain, despite their disappointing performance at the World Cup in Brazil. “I have been in contact with federation president [Angel Maria Villar], as well as the secretary-general [Jorge Perez], and I think we are a stable federation and the last six years as a whole have counted for more than the last two games that eliminated us from the World Cup,” Del Bosque said. “They valued my work and we are going to carry on as always.” Del Bosque’s contract runs through to the end of Euro 2016 and his announcement will end speculation that had been mounting since Spain were knocked out of the World Cup following back-to-back defeats against the Netherlands and Chile. After Spain bowed out of the tournament in Brazil by beating Australia 3-0, he said: “We will look for the best decision for our football, with sense and without drama.”
BASEBALL
US All-Stars to play Japan
Hiroshima Carp pitcher Kenta Maeda will take the mound for Japan against a team of All-Stars from Major League Baseball in a six-game series in November. Maeda, who is 9-4 this season with a 2.08 ERA, was one of six players listed for the series on the national team Web site yesterday. The remainder of the squad is to be named later. The All-Stars will be visiting Japan for the first time since 2006. With the start of the World Baseball Classic that year, Japan’s players’ association decided to skip the series and the All-Stars have not returned since. The series is set to begin on Nov. 12 at the Osaka Dome and will be followed by three games at the Tokyo Dome, before wrapping up with games in Sapporo and Okinawa.
MOTOR RACING
Nico Rosberg bows to FIFA
Formula One leader Nico Rosberg ditched plans to put an image of the World Cup trophy on his helmet for the upcoming German Grand Prix following a complaint from FIFA. The German driver wanted to commemorate his country’s World Cup win with a specially designed helmet that also featured the German colors, but FIFA complained that featuring the trophy on the helmet would breach its intellectual property rights. “We appreciate Nico Rosberg’s desire to congratulate the German team and have therefore been in discussions with the Rosberg team, who have now found a solution whereby he will still be able to show his support for Germany without using FIFA’s intellectual property in a commercial context,” FIFA said in a statement on Thursday. “FIFA brands cannot be allowed to be shown on a commercially branded helmet.” Rosberg is to race instead with a modified helmet featuring four golden stars, one for each of Germany’s World Cup wins.
ATHLETICS
Cameroon wrestler found
A Cameroon Commonwealth Games athlete reported missing earlier this week has been found safe and well. Two Cameroonian wrestlers, aged 26 and 31, vanished from their country’s pre-Games training camp in Aberdeen, Scotland, earlier this week. They were reported missing on Tuesday after being last seen at the Hillhead Halls of Residence on Sunday, but Police Scotland confirmed on Thursday that one of the unnamed male athletes had been found in London. It is not yet known whether he is the 26-year-old or the 31-year-old. In a statement, the force said: “Police Scotland can confirm that one of the athletes reported missing from Aberdeen has been traced safe and well in London. Inquiries are continuing to locate the other athlete.”
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
RSS