■Loeb wins Wales test
Loeb wins Wales test
World champion Sebastien Loeb overtook Jari-Matti Latvala on the final stage on Sunday to win the season-ending Wales Rally. Loeb, who clinched a record fifth world title in Japan last month, trailed Latvala by 4.9 seconds following a 10 second jump start penalty in the penultimate stage but surged ahead to win by 2.7 seconds. The French driver ended the 2008 championship with 11 wins from 15 races for the first time, taking his career tally to 48. His last-gasp victory also secured the manufacturers’ title for Citroen. Loeb’s teammate Dani Sordo finished third, 1 minute, 7.9 seconds behind Latvala.
■RUGBY LEAGUE
Ricky Stuart quits as coach
Ricky Stuart has quit as Australia’s rugby league coach in the wake of his “offensive” behavior toward World Cup officials following the Kangaroos’ shock defeat in last month’s final. Stuart was widely condemned for his outbursts at match referee Ashley Klein and British referees official Stuart Cummings after the Kangaroos’ 34-20 loss to New Zealand in the Brisbane final on Nov. 22. Australian Rugby League chairman Colin Love said Stuart had informed him at a meeting here Monday that he would not be applying for the national job for next year’s season. Stuart’s decision came with the announcement of a A$20,000 (US$13,000) fine imposed under World Cup disciplinary guidelines.
■CRICKET
Bradman bat up for sale
The cricket bat Australia’s Don Bradman used to make his highest first-class score is up for sale. The bat with which Bradman scored 452 not out for New South Wales against Queensland in 1930 will be auctioned in Melbourne next week. Bradman’s unbeaten 452 is the third highest individual first-class score of all time and stood as the world record for almost three decades. Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad made 499 for Karachi in 1958-1959 and West Indian Brian Lara scored 501 not out for English county Warwickshire in 1994. Bradman, regarded as the greatest batsmen of all time, died in 2001 aged 92.
■SWIMMING
Bernard sets new record
Olympic champion Alain Bernard of France set a new world shortcourse record in winning the French 100m freestyle crown in a time of 45.69 seconds on Sunday. Bernard beat the former record of 45.83, set by Sweden’s Stefan Nystrand on Nov. 17, last year in Berlin. It is the first time Bernard, who won three Olympic medals in Beijing including gold in the 100m freestyle, has swam under the 46-sec mark. What was the Frenchman’s first world shortcourse record comes in the wake of him setting four world records, three over 100m and one over 50m, in the longer, 50m pool earlier this year.
■LUGE
Russian wins singles cup
Albert Demtschenko of Russia won a World Cup luge singles race on Sunday, edging two-time Olympic champion Armin Zoggeler of Italy by 0.146 seconds. Demtschenko, who crashed in the season-opener last month at Igls, Austria, had a two-run time of 1 minute, 39.265 seconds. “I had some problems at Igls, but now I’m very happy,” he said. “This was the best answer after the crash at Igls. The most important thing today was my head.” David Moeller of Germany was third. He and Zoggeler top the overall standings with 155 points. Demtschenko is sixth with 100.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
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