■SOCCER
Larsson likely to call it a day
Henrik Larsson indicated on Sunday that he’ll quit the Swedish national team next week even if they qualify for the World Cup. The striker became Sweden’s oldest ever outfield player in their 1-0 loss to Denmark on Saturday at 38 years, 20 days. He hinted that Sweden’s final Group 1 game against Albania tomorrow could be his last for the team to cap a brilliant international career. To get into the playoffs, Sweden must win and hope Portugal slip up against Malta. “It’s probably over now,” Larsson said. “Today, I feel that there will be no World Cup even if we qualify.” Larsson has retired several times before only to come back, but he says this time is different. “I’m 38, it’s not likely that I will not commit myself to more championships,” he said. The former Celtic and Barcelona star, who broke through when Sweden finished third at the 1994 World Cup, believes Sweden still have a chance to reach next year’s tournament in South Africa. “We must still believe that we can qualify,” Larsson said. “Think if something happens in Portugal and we don’t win ... I would never forgive myself.” He will end the season with hometown team Helsingborg on Nov. 1, which could be the last match of his career. “I don’t know what will happen,” he said. “I’d like to become a coach. I’ve gained a lot of experience throughout the years.”
■RUGBY UNION
Brawl hospitalizes three
Three Romanian players were hospitalized after a fight broke out between players in a Central and Eastern European Rugby Cup match, an official said yesterday. The incident took place on Sunday in Arad during a match between CSU Arad and RCM Timisoara. Danut Borzas, manager of RCM said the players started punching and kicking each other about 20 minutes into the match. Players on the bench joined the brawl. One player was hospitalized with head injuries. Another player had a broken nose and the third sustained facial injuries and had several teeth knocked out. “We received threats before the match,” Borzas said. “We have three players in hospital. They were punched and thrown to the ground and then kicked.” Borzas said he would complain to the Romanian Rugby Federation and possibly to the International Rugby Federation.
■TENNIS
Henin gets Open wildcard
Former world No. 1 Justine Henin has been granted a wildcard to play in next year’s Australian Open, organizers said yesterday. The 27-year-old Belgian, who won the event in 2004, announced last month that she was ending her self-imposed retirement. Her coach, Carlos Rodriguez, said last week that Henin was likely to make her return in the Brisbane International, starting on Jan. 3, ahead of the Jan. 18-Jan. 31 Australian Open in Melbourne. “I spoke to Justine’s team over the weekend and was happy to grant her request for a wildcard into the Australian Open,” tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement.
■SOCCER
Ronaldo facing layoff
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s injured right ankle will keep him out for three or four weeks, Spanish media said yesterday. “Madrid upset; they think Portugal should not have pushed the player,” to turn out for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Hungary, headlined Marca. “It was reckless of him to play,” Marca quoted a Real Madrid source as saying. “Understandable recklessness, but reckless.” Ronaldo had shaken off a twist to the same ankle to start the Group One clash, but lasted just 27 minutes of the 3-0 victory.
■CRICKET
Expert checks ‘signatures’
A leading expert is checking signatures by late legend Donald Bradman sold by ex-England player Dermot Reeve that are said to be too messy to be genuine, the Bradman Foundation said yesterday. Licensed valuer Chris Anderson is studying the signatures, which were bought by a trusted memorabilia-maker who works with Australia’s official Bradman Museum, a spokeswoman said. “He was a very careful writer — he had beautiful handwriting,” the museum’s marketing manager Joanne Crowley said. She said Reeve sold the signatures to John Alvarez, who was creating replica signed cricket bats to be sold on the centenary of Bradman’s birth last year. “This is not about trying to discredit Mr Reeve, it’s about trying to protect Sir Donald Bradman’s name and intellectual property,” she said. Reeve, a former Wisden cricketer of the year who once owned a memorabilia shop, told the Daily Telegraph he would “never knowingly pass an item on if I did not believe it to be authentic.” Crowley said while the case was still in dispute, unreliable Bradman memorabilia was becoming prolific.
■SOCCER
Cannavaro in the clear
The doping case against defender Fabio Cannavaro was dropped by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) yesterday and the Italy captain said he did nothing wrong and was bothered by the public outrage his positive test sparked. CONI’s anti-doping court made the move after prosecutor Ettore Torri questioned Cannavaro last week and ascertained that the positive test was a result of cortisone used to treat a bee sting. “My conscious is clean,” Cannavaro said after joining Italy’s team to prepare for a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus. “You get stung by a bee and you end up seeing yourself in the paper treated like a doper,’’ Cannavaro said, according to ANSA news agency. “I thought I was dreaming. Some papers and TV stations took it too far,” he said. Cortisone can be administered if authorization for therapeutic needs is granted beforehand, and it was unclear if Juventus received CONI’s permission.Juventus and club physician Bartolomeo Goitre could still be sanctioned by CONI.
■ATHLETICS
Wanjiru wins in Chicago
Kenya’s Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru won the Chicago marathon on Sunday, toppling the course record to set the fastest mark ever on US soil. The 22-year-old, who also won the London marathon in April, completed Chicago’s flat course on a chilly day under cloudy skies in 2:05:41. Wanjiru picked up US$75,000 and an additional US$100,000 bonus for setting the course record, trimming one second off the mark set by Khalid Khannouchi in 1999. But hopes he might beat the world record of 2:03:59 set in Berlin last year by Haile Gebrselassie proved optimistic. Second place on Sunday went to Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri in 2:06:04 with Vincent Kipruto of Kenya third in 2:06:08. The women’s race was won easily by Liliya Shobukhova of Russia in 2:25:55.
■SOCCER
Buffon faces knee op
Veteran Italian international Gianluigi Buffon is planning to have a knee operation in December, if he can keep going until then, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported yesterday. The 31-year-old goalkeeper would be out for more than a month. “He will be operated on during the Christmas break from the league and as the recovery time for an exterior meniscus operation is 30 to 40 days, he should be back playing in early February,” the daily said.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
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