■SOCCER
Capello recalls Beckham
David Beckham’s successful loan move to AC Milan earned him a recall to the England squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Spain. England manager Fabio Capello named him among 23 players who will go to Seville to take on the European champions. Beckham has scored twice in six games since his temporary loan to Milan and Capello was convinced the former captain was fully fit and in form. “Beckham is a very important player,” Capello said. “His form is OK now. I followed him in Milan. Now he’s fit. You know every player who wants to be in the squad has to play, not only training.” Although Beckham played as a late substitute in all four World Cup qualifying victories, he was dropped for November’s 2-1 victory over Germany. Capello also called up Aston Villa’s James Milner and West Ham’s Carlton Cole for the first time.
■SOCCER
McCarthy scraps celebrations
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy cancelled his 50th birthday celebrations after his Championship leaders suffered an agonizing 2-1 defeat against Coventry. McCarthy had planned a birthday meal with his wife but he admitted it would be a somber affair as he tried to come to terms with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s stoppage time penalty miss. Wolves fell behind when Michael Doyle struck in the 25th minute. Sam Vokes levelled with 18 minutes remaining but Coventry quickly regained the lead as Leon McKenzie slotted home Jordan Henderson’s pass. Ebanks-Blake’s injury-time penalty was saved by Keiren Westwood. Meanwhile, Reading boss Steve Coppell admitted his second placed side will have to get used to playing defensive opponents at the Madejski Stadium after Preston ground out a 0-0 draw. The Royals have now gone 269 minutes without scoring despite dominating for long periods and they are four points behind Wolves. Elsewhere, Sheffield Wednesday claimed their first league double over bitter rivals Sheffield United in 95 years.
■GOLF
LPGA pioneer passes away
Betty Jameson, one of the 13 founding members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), died on Saturday aged 89, the Tour said. A winner of 13 professional titles, including three majors, Jameson was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Women’s Golf in 1951. Jameson was recognized during the LPGA’s 50th anniversary in 2000 as one of the body’s top 50 players and teachers.
■BOBSLED
Latvians strike gold
Latvia’s Janis Minnins won the gold medal in the four-man bobsled on Saturday at the World Cup in Whistler, Canada. The team finished in a two-run time of 1 minute, 42.17 seconds, barely edging Steve Holcomb of the US by six hundredths of a second. Minnins moved up to second in the World Cup rankings while Holcomb added a second silver medal to go with one bronze this year. Russian Alexsandr Zubkov’s team was third.
■HOCKEY
Germans make Olympics
Germany qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Austria on Saturday. Uwe Krupp’s side booked their ticket to Canada with goals by Yannic Seidenberg and John Tripp in front of 5,000 spectators, while Japan beat Slovenia 5-4 earlier in the day. Austria pulled back a consolation goal from Dieter Kalt, but Germany held on to claim their second win in three days after beating Japan 7-1 on Thursday.
■SOCCER
Capello recalls Beckham
David Beckham’s successful loan move to AC Milan earned him a recall to the England squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Spain. England manager Fabio Capello named him among 23 players who will go to Seville to take on the European champions. Beckham has scored twice in six games since his temporary loan to Milan and Capello was convinced the former captain was fully fit and in form. “Beckham is a very important player,” Capello said. “His form is OK now. I followed him in Milan. Now he’s fit. You know every player who wants to be in the squad has to play, not only training.” Although Beckham played as a late substitute in all four World Cup qualifying victories, he was dropped for November’s 2-1 victory over Germany. Capello also called up Aston Villa’s James Milner and West Ham’s Carlton Cole for the first time.
■SOCCER
McCarthy scraps celebrations
Wolves manager Mick McCarthy cancelled his 50th birthday celebrations after his Championship leaders suffered an agonizing 2-1 defeat against Coventry. McCarthy had planned a birthday meal with his wife but he admitted it would be a somber affair as he tried to come to terms with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s stoppage time penalty miss. Wolves fell behind when Michael Doyle struck in the 25th minute. Sam Vokes levelled with 18 minutes remaining but Coventry quickly regained the lead as Leon McKenzie slotted home Jordan Henderson’s pass. Ebanks-Blake’s injury-time penalty was saved by Keiren Westwood. Meanwhile, Reading boss Steve Coppell admitted his second placed side will have to get used to playing defensive opponents at the Madejski Stadium after Preston ground out a 0-0 draw. The Royals have now gone 269 minutes without scoring despite dominating for long periods and they are four points behind Wolves. Elsewhere, Sheffield Wednesday claimed their first league double over bitter rivals Sheffield United in 95 years.
■GOLF
LPGA pioneer passes away
Betty Jameson, one of the 13 founding members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), died on Saturday aged 89, the Tour said. A winner of 13 professional titles, including three majors, Jameson was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Women’s Golf in 1951. Jameson was recognized during the LPGA’s 50th anniversary in 2000 as one of the body’s top 50 players and teachers.
■BOBSLED
Latvians strike gold
Latvia’s Janis Minnins won the gold medal in the four-man bobsled on Saturday at the World Cup in Whistler, Canada. The team finished in a two-run time of 1 minute, 42.17 seconds, barely edging Steve Holcomb of the US by six hundredths of a second. Minnins moved up to second in the World Cup rankings while Holcomb added a second silver medal to go with one bronze this year. Russian Alexsandr Zubkov’s team was third.
■HOCKEY
Germans make Olympics
Germany qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Austria on Saturday. Uwe Krupp’s side booked their ticket to Canada with goals by Yannic Seidenberg and John Tripp in front of 5,000 spectators, while Japan beat Slovenia 5-4 earlier in the day. Austria pulled back a consolation goal from Dieter Kalt, but Germany held on to claim their second win in three days after beating Japan 7-1 on Thursday.
■ATHLETICS
Hooker closes in on record
Australia’s Olympic pole vault gold medalist Steven Hooker cleared 6.06m at the Boston Indoor Games on Saturday, becoming the second-best performer all-time indoors behind Ukrainian Sergey Bubka. Hooker, who won Olympic gold with a height of 5.96m, cleared 6.06 on his third attempt, then launched an assault on Bubka’s 16-year-old world record of 6.15m. Hooker put the bar at 6.16, but couldn’t clear it. With his 6.06 on Saturday, Hooker surpassed Radion Gataullin and Jeff Hartwig on the indoor all-time list, both with vaults of 6.02. In the women’s pole vault, American Jennifer Stuczynski became the third all-time performer indoors behind Russians Yelena Isinbaeva and Svetlana Feofanova as she cleared 4.82m.
■ATHLETICS
Jones dominates hurdles
US sprinter Lolo Jones took a cool 0.10 seconds off the previous fastest time this season as she dominated the women’s 60m hurdles at 7.85 seconds at Stuttgart’s IAAF indoor meet on Saturday. With strong fields assembled in key races at Stuttgart’s Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle stadium, several world best marks fell with a month to go before the European Indoor Championships. Having just missed out on Bejing gold, high-jumper Blanka Vlasic leapt to the highest mark of 2.04m so far this season. But she failed with her three attempts at 2.09m, which would have broken the 32-year-old world indoor record of 2.08m set by Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist. Ethiopia’s 5,000m world champion Meseret Defar ran a season’s best time of 8 minutes, 26.99 seconds. In the men’s 3,000m, US runner Bernard Lagat smashed the world’s previous best mark with a time of 7 minutes, 35.41seconds. Ismail Ahmed Ismail from Sudan lowered the 800m world’s best mark when he ran 1 minute, 45.73 seconds while Russia’s Yuriya Borzakovskiy finished second. In the men’s 1,500m, Ethiopia’s Deresse Mekkonen ran a new world mark of 3 minutes, 36.41 seconds.
■BASKETBALL
NBA fines Doc Rivers
Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers was fined by the National Basketball Association on Saturday for “verbal abuse of game officials,” the Boston Globe reported. The punishment will reportedly will cost Rivers US$15,000. Rivers was critical of the officiating in Boston’s 110-109 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. He said he believed officials made a mistake on the Celtics’ final play, when Ray Allen missed a three-point attempt while being closely marked by Derek Fisher. “I thought it was a hand check, I did,” Rivers said after the game. “But the officials say that they don’t call the game different from the first quarter to the end of the game. And if that’s true, then Ray should’ve been on the free-throw line.” Rivers also criticized the way the referees handled the second half, saying they allowed “chippiness” on both sides to become “out of control.”
■FIELD HOCKEY
Favorites enjoy easy starts
Favorites Argentina and the US enjoyed easy starts to the Pan American Cup on Saturday. Argentina thumped Trinidad and Tobago 7-1 while the US comfortably beat a spirited Jamaica 10-0. They are expected to meet in the final next Sunday, in which the winner will qualify for next year’s World Cup in Argentina. Argentina’s Noel Barrionuevo scored a hat trick, while Blair Wynne earned Trinidad’s goal. Lauren Crandall and Rachel Dawson scored twice each for the US. Chile beat Mexico 6-1, while Canada thrashed host Bermuda 10-0 with a hat trick for Stephanie Nesbitt.
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
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