CRICKET
Clarke announces comeback
Former Test captain Michael Clarke yesterday said that he was returning to cricket six months after he retired, telling Australian media he had “unfinished business” in the shorter form of the game. The 34-year-old, who bowed out in August after the disastrous Ashes series in England, said his first game would be with his grade club Western Suburbs against Randwick-Petersham in Sydney on Feb. 20 and 21. “To step away from cricket for four months has been great, I have found my body has enjoyed it and my mind has really enjoyed it too,” Clarke said. “At the same time I’ve realized the game of cricket is in my blood. I’ve been looking for an outlet to replace what I’ve chosen to walk away from.” One of the outstanding batsmen of his generation, Clarke said he “missed the game” and would “never say never to anything.”
ALPINE SKIING
Rebensburg takes title
Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg took her second successive giant slalom victory on Saturday while Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the race in Maribor, Slovenia, but still kept the overall World Cup lead. Vonn, winner of 75 World Cup races and on majestic form this season, lost her balance on the second leg — nearly hitting a course worker while a nearby photographer lost his footing — and slid into the safety netting. Switzerland’s Lara Gut, Vonn’s closest rival for the overall title, could have taken the lead but also failed to finish the second leg. Vonn has 900 points, Gut 855. In a men’s downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde topped a World Cup podium for the first time, beating Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline who also enjoyed a career-best finish.
ATHLETICS
Suhr smashes own record
Reigning Olympic champion Jenn Suhr of the US broke her own women’s world indoor pole vault record on Saturday by clearing 5.03 meters at the Golden Eagle Invitational meet. Suhr set the record at Brockport State in suburban Rochester, breaking the mark of 5.02m she established on March 2, 2013, at the US championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That effort made her the second woman in the world to crack the 5m mark after Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva. The 33-year-old won at London with a clearance of 4.75m after having taken a silver medal at Beijing in 2008. It is a good omen for the season for Suhr ahead of this year’s world indoors, which will be on home turf in March at Portland, Oregon.
CYCLING
Bicycle fraud investigated
World cycling body UCI confirmed on Saturday that it had seized a bicycle amid claims it was powered by a hidden engine at the cyclo-cross world championships. The bicycle was ridden by Femke Van den Driessche, the Belgian cycling federation (RLVB) later confirmed. Among the race favourites, Van den Driessche was forced to withdraw from the women’s under-23 race because of a mechanical problem toward the end. The UCI said they were examining the bicycle for “technological fraud.” “Our auditors detected mechanical fraud — it quickly became apparent that something was wrong,” UCI race coordinator Peter Van den Abeele told Belgian television Sporza. He gave no further details as to the nature of the alleged fraud, but Belgian state television claimed that a small motor had been discovered in the bicycle frame. If found guilty of cheating the rider faces disqualification, a six-month suspension and a fine of up to 200,000 Swiss francs (US$99,640).
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
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
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