■FOOTBALL
Association files grievance
The NFL Players Association filed a grievance on Tuesday challenging the suspension and fine given to Plaxico Burress by the New York Giants after the star receiver accidentally shot himself 10 days ago. The union said that the team violated the collective bargaining agreement last week when it placed Burress on the reserve-non football injury list, suspended him for the final four games of the regular season and fined him an additional week’s salary for conduct detrimental to the team. Placing Burress on the non-football injury list also will keep him out of the playoffs. The Giants won the NFC East division title on Sunday. Union spokesman Carl Francis said the grievance will be heard by an arbitrator after the season ends.
■FOOTBALL
Jones suspended for drugs
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Matt Jones will serve a three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy after his appeal was denied on Tuesday. The league handed down the suspension in October, but it was delayed while Jones appealed. His appeal was heard last week. He will miss the last three games of the regular season. Jones, the team’s leading receiver, was charged with cocaine possession in July when a police officer in Fayetteville, Arkansas saw him inside a parked car allegedly cutting up cocaine with a credit card.
■BASEBALL
FBI reviews Clemens files
Federal investigators subpoenaed medical records from Roger Clemens’ former teams to see if the pitcher perjured himself when testifying before Congress about doping, ESPN reported Tuesday. Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young winner, told Congress in February that he had never used steroids or human growth hormone, as his former trainer Brian McNamee has alleged. According to the report posted on ESPN.com, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents met with club officials and attorneys from the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays.
■GOLF
Norman highest earner
Golfer Greg Norman headed the list of Australia’s highest-earning sports stars for the 12th straight year even after making the cut just once in four PGA Tour events. Norman, 53, kept his top ranking with estimated sports-related income of A$20.9 million (US$13.9 million), according to the annual list by Business Review Weekly magazine to be published tomorrow. Soccer player Harry Kewell was next with A$10.5 million, Norman, a two-time major winner, is chief executive officer of Great White Shark Enterprises Inc, a closely held company that counts golf course design, apparel, golf equipment, wine and residential development among its activities.
■BASEBALL
Bats to be upgraded by MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) hopes scary scenes of broken maple bats sailing into the stands or dugouts soon could be a thing of the past. All bats used in big league games soon will have their own serial numbers and ink markings for tracking, part of the first step in the league’s efforts to decrease the number of broken bats and ensure a safer environment for players and fans. By the start of next season, the plan of MLB’s safety and health advisory committee is that all bats will have been certified by MLB and that the 32 manufacturers making them will be held to a new list of standards surrounding their production.
■SOCCER
Ronaldo in Corinthians deal
Brazilian striker Ronaldo has expressed his pride after winning a nine-month battle against injury and agreeing to terms with Sao Paulo-based Corinthians. Ronaldo, 32, will join one of Brazil’s biggest clubs, who have just won promotion back to the top flight after one season in Serie B, for the 2009 season as he attempts to re-ignite his career. “I’m proud of myself,” he said in an interview with Brazilian television. “This was never an easy fight at any moment and I’m winning. Corinthians believed in me, they have a fantastic project for 2009 and I’m very confident it will be a great year, although I know I will have a lot of difficulties at the start.” Ronaldo had been widely expected to sign for Flamengo, where he had been training for the last four months, and his move to Corinthians upset supporters of the Rio de Janeiro-based club, who burned photos of him after hearing the news.
■SOCCER
Real fire coach Schuster
Struggling Spanish champions Real Madrid fired coach Bernd Schuster on Tuesday and immediately replaced him with former Tottenham and Sevilla coach Juande Ramos. Real sports director Pedja Mijatovic said he had held a meeting earlier in the day with Schuster, who had “accepted” the decision but “was sad to do so.” “We analyzed everything that has happened in recent months. We saw the difficulties and reached this decision by mutual agreement,” Mijatovic told a news conference. Schuster, one of a rare breed of soccer players who have played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona, was under contract with Real till 2010. Ramos, 54, has been given an initial six-month deal which will keep him at the Spanish giants until the end of the season. Schuster’s head was placed firmly on the block on Sunday when Real slipped to a humiliating 4-3 home defeat to Sevilla, a result that left them languishing in fifth place in the league, nine points behind leaders Barcelona.
■RUGBY UNION
Union urges Wembley probe
An Australian players’ union has called for an investigation into the safety of the playing surface at Wembley Stadium after two Australians were injured in last week’s match against the Barbarians in London. Wallaby prop Matt Dunning ruptured his Achilles tendon and fellow front rower Sekope Kepu tore a pectoral muscle when a scrum collapsed during the match. The Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) wants to know whether there is a link between the injuries and the state of the pitch. “From discussions I have had it was very, very unstable under foot,” RUPA boss Tony Dempsey told the Daily Telegraph yesterday.
■SOCCER
Australia throws cash at bid
Australia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup received a major boost yesterday when the government agreed to spend A$45.6 million (US$30 million) to back the campaign. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Sports Minister Kate Ellis and Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said in a statement the cash injection “sends a clear message to the football world that Australia is serious about hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.” “There is no better place in the world than right here in Australia,” Ellis told reporters. The Football Federation Australia (FFA) will formally lodge its bid by the end of 2010 with a decision on who will host the tournament expected in 2011. FFA chairman Frank Lowy told reporters the money would be spent wisely on securing the best “professional services” to ensure Australia has a genuine chance of hosting the soccer showpiece.
When Kim Ye-ji first tried shooting at age 12 she could not lift the gun. Now, she is the world’s most Internet-famous Olympic shooter, thanks to her steel nerves — and Elon Musk. Kim, 32, won silver in the women’s 10m air pistol at the Paris Olympics this summer and captured the Internet’s attention with her nonchalant cool. However, she said she fell into her sport by accident. When her middle-school teacher asked for volunteers to try shooting, Kim did not raise her hand, but was selected anyway. Despite being too small to hoist the pistol, she was hooked. “I thought it looked
Taiwanese swimmer Hsu Wen-erh on Monday finished her solo swim around Manhattan Island to become the first Taiwanese and only the 334th person to finish the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, after abandoning her first attempt in New York on Sunday. “Who says, I’ll come back couldn’t means the next day?” she wrote on Facebook on Monday, after returning to the water to complete New York’s 48.5km 20 Bridges Swim, the final leg of her Triple Crown campaign. Trailed by a kayak flying Taiwan’s national flag, Hsu went on to finish the brutal swim in 9 hours, 5 minutes, to capture
LISBON UPSET: Feyenoord’s coach said that his players might not have realized what they had achieved in winning away against Portuguese giants SL Benfica MANCHESTER, England, and LISBON Erling Haaland on Wednesday scored an outrageous backheel volley in the UEFA Champions League to issue a timely reminder of his own credentials as a potential Ballon d’Or winner. A day after Vinicius Junior hit a hat-trick for Real Madrid, Haaland scored an early contender for goal of the season with his acrobatic effort in Manchester City’s 5-0 win against Sparta Prague. Vinicius Junior is the favorite to win soccer’s most prestigious individual prize, which is to be presented at a gala ceremony in Paris on Monday, but Haaland, who was runner-up to Lionel Messi for last year’s award,
Brazil superstar Neymar on Monday returned to action following more than a year out, with the Al-Hilal forward appearing as a second-half substitute in his side’s gripping 5-4 win against Asian champions Al-Ain in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker, 32, had not played since rupturing his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while on international duty in October last year. Neymar, who underwent surgery and a sustained period of rehabilitation, is his country’s all-time leading goalscorer, with 79 goals in 128 appearances. Named on the Al-Hilal bench for the first time since