Sat, Jun 27, 2009 page19

• Sports Briefs

  • AGENCIES
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  ■BASEBALL

  Asia Series in doubt

  Japan professional baseball has proposed a one-off game between the Japan Series champions and the winners of the South Korean professional baseball league. The proposed game, to be played in November, would replace the Asia Series that features the top teams from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, the Nikkan Sports newspaper reported yesterday. Teams from Japan have won all four Asia Series titles since the event began in 2005, but the four-nation tournament, held at the 45,000-seat Tokyo Dome, has struggled financially.

  ■YACHTING

  Puma leads fleet for last leg

  Puma’s Il Mostro, skippered by American Ken Read, led the fleet for the 10th and final leg of the around-the-world Volvo Ocean Race on Thursday after a 10-day stay in the Swedish capital. Sailing in 10-12 knots of breeze, Puma, Telefonica Blue and Ericsson 4 were the frontrunners off the start line. A huge crowd and about 1,000 smaller boats were on hand on the outer edge of the Stockholm archipelago to see the fleet leave. Little is at stake as the 67,600km race finishes today in St Petersburg, Russia. Five-time Olympic medalist Torben Grael of Brazil sailed Ericsson 4 to overall victory by finishing third in the ninth leg that finished in Stockholm on June 16. Puma has clinched second overall. Telefonica Blue will take third after losing the battle for second when the boat finished last in leg nine after going aground off Marstrand, western Sweden. The fleet must arrive in St Petersburg this morning in order to clear customs and pass through two bridges, which will be raised specially in order to let the fleet into the historic city.

  ■BASEBALL

  MLB won’t suspend Soto

  Puerto Rico catcher Geovany Soto will not be suspended by Major League Baseball (MLB) or his Chicago Cubs club after testing positive for marijuana at this year’s World Baseball Classic. Soto, last season’s National League rookie of the year, drew a two-year ban from international competition by the International Baseball Federation. Soto’s result will be treated by MLB like a first-time positive test. There is no suspension, but players can be fined and are subject to medical review.

  ■SWIMMING

  Steffen sets world record

  Double Olympic champion Britta Steffen on Thursday set a new world record for the women’s 100m freestyle in a time of 52.85 seconds at the German national championships in Berlin. The previous record of 52.88 was held by Australian Libby Trickett.

  ■BASEBALL

  Chinese schools seek talent

  Four Chinese universities will begin extending preferential enrollment policies for talented baseball athletes, promoters said on Thursday, in a bid to boost the sport’s growth in the world’s most populous country. The schools, all located in the country’s more developed east, will lower the minimum academic requirements for entry to athletes who show promise, said a joint news release from the Chinese Baseball Association and QSL Sports Limited, which was named this month as the association’s partner in the China Youth Baseball League. Schools offering preferential admissions were listed as the Shanghai International Studies University, Beijing’s North China University of Technology, the Nanjing University of Technology and Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law.
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