■ FOOTBALL
Favre put on reserve list
The Green Bay Packers placed Brett Favre on the NFL’s reserve-retired list on Friday, meaning he no longer counts on the team’s 80-player roster. General manager Ted Thompson said the move was procedural in advance of the NFL draft. The 38-year-old Favre announced his retirementon March 6 in an emotional news conference. The team has announced it will retire the three-time MVP, No. 4 when the season starts in September. On Friday, Favre was unveiled as the cover boy for Madden NFL ‘09, the first retired player to have his face on the video game. He admitted he did not play the Madden game, which is celebrating its 20th year by highlighting Favre on the cover.
■ GYMNASTICS
Hamm gets approval
Morgan Hamm had his petition to the US gymnastics championships approved on Friday, keeping alive his quest to make a third Olympic squad. Hamm dropped out of a qualifying meet in Colorado on Wednesday, suffering from an allergic reaction that made breathing difficult. He is on the comeback trail after tearing a pectoral muscle in October. He planned to compete in four events, but dropped out after two, saying he could barely breathe during the floor exercise. It meant he had to file a petition to gain a spot in next month’s nationals. Predictably, the request was approved.
■ FIELD HOCKEY
Australia to play S Korea
Reigning Olympic champions Australia will play South Korea in the final of the four-nations field hockey tournament after beating the Koreans 3-2 in their final round-robin match yesterday. The Australians topped the standings after three games with seven points and will back up again to play second-placed South Korea in today’s final. A 3-0 halftime lead put the game in Australia’s control after a penalty conversion by Luke Doerner, and field goals from Andrew Smith and Simon Orchard. Yeo Woon-Kon pulled back two goals for South Korea in the 48th and 56th minutes.
■ BOXING
Calzaghe criticizes Hopkins
Joe Calzaghe has accused American Bernard Hopkins of being a “sore loser” after their light-heavyweight clash in Las Vegas yesterday. Unbeaten Welshman Calzaghe, the undisputed super-middleweight world champion, won a split decision after recovering from a first-round knockdown against the 43-year-old. Hopkins looked stunned after two of the three judges gave the fight to Calzaghe, one of them by a large 116-111 margin, and claimed he won the fight. “He should get over it,” 36-year-old Calzaghe told the BBC on Friday.
■ SWIMMING
Australians set records
Australian swimmers Leisel Jones and Libby Trickett set short-course world records yesterday at a national Grand Prix meet at the Australian Institute of Sport. Jones clocked 1 minute, 3.72 seconds in the 100m breaststroke to take 0.14 seconds off her own mark set at the Australian championships in Hobart in 2006. Just moments after Jones performance, Trickett finished in a time of 55.74 in the 100m butterfly to take 0.15 seconds off the mark set earlier this month by compatriot Felicity Galvez at the short-course world championships in Manchester, England. Galvez did not compete in the 100 butterfly at this meet. Jones, a five-time Olympic medalist, did not compete at the world short-course titles.
■ SOCCER
Players call off strike action
Players at struggling Spanish first division side Levante have called off their threat to strike during today’s match at Recreativo Huelva after the cash-strapped club found a way to pay debts to the squad. “We finally have a solution. I think it is good for everyone,” Levante captain Luis Rubiales told radio Cadena Ser in the early hours of yesterday. The squad announced on April 17 that it would strike yesterday and today over unpaid wages and bonuses. The players had up until now rejected all offers to settle the debts that were made by the club. Overall debts to the players total 18 million euros (US$28.4 million), local newspaper Levante EMV reported earlier this week. Some players are still owed bonuses from last season, it said.
■ CRICKET
Harbhajan in slapping row
India spinner Harbhajan Singh could face disciplinary action following reports he slapped compatriot Shanthakumaran Sreesanth at an Indian Premier League game. Television pictures showed Sreesanth sobbing at the end of the game late on Friday after his Mohali team defeated Mumbai, which is captained by Harbhajan. The Hindustan Times daily reported that Harbhajan had slapped the young fast bowler. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Niranjan Shah said the spinner had been asked to explain his actions. “The BCCI condemns the behavior of Harbhajan Singh as a contracted player of the board and he is called upon to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him and has been asked for clarification by Monday evening,” he said in a statement. Harbhajan said the media were trying to sensationalize the issue. “It is between me and Sree. What you’re showing on TV, it is between us.”
■ SOCCER
CSKA Sofia close in on title
CSKA Sofia moved within one victory of their 31st Bulgarian league title with a 4-0 drubbing of Marek Dupnitsa on Friday. The Reds, as CSKA are known, top the table with 68 points from 26 matches and will wrap up the championship if they beat mid-table Botev Plovdiv on Wednesday. Brazilian striker Nei scored twice, with the other goals coming from Romanian midfielder Florentin Petre and Yordan Yurukov. Levski Sofia, CSKA’s bitter rivals, are second on 58 points with four games remaining. Champions Levski kept alive their slim title chances with a 4-0 home win over Pirin Blagoevgrad.
■ CRICKET
Bransgrove criticizes wait
Hampshire chairman Rod Bransgrove said on Friday it was ludicrous to wait until 2010 to launch the English version of the Indian Premier League. “We conceived Twenty20, but India has been quicker to exploit its commercial potential,” Bransgrove said. “The idea to launch in 2010 is ludicrous. I would have started making changes this year, including more overseas players or making it two-divisional. It’s not brain surgery.”
■ SOCCER
Dortmund salvage a point
Jakub Blaszczykowsk’s 51st-minute header salvaged a 1-1 draw for Borussia Dortmund against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga on Friday. Six days after losing the German Cup final, struggling Dortmund held 12th place as they matched Benjamin Koehler’s headed goal for Frankfurt seconds into the second half. The goals kicked off a furious half in which both teams traded chances following a cautious approach before the break. Eighth-placed Frankfurt suffered a setback in their hopes of gaining a UEFA Cup berth.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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