■ GOLF
Wi, Kuchar share lead
Charlie Wi carded a two-under-par 69 to share the BMW Championship second round lead with Matt Kuchar on Friday, but squandered a chance to have the top of the leaderboard to himself with a late triple-bogey. Cruising through an unblemished back nine with three birdies, the South Korean’s round went from brilliant to ordinary in a hurry with the seven at the par-four 16th. Wi hit back with another birdie at the 17th to reach the midway point at six-under 136 and remain on track for what would be a maiden career USPGA Tour title. It was a missed opportunity for Wi to overhaul ailing FedEx Cup leader Kuchar, who was barely able to make it around the Cog Hill layout because of illness and labored to a one-over 72. Tiger Woods’s hopes of qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship continued to dim as the world No. 1 slipped further out of contention with a one-over 72.
■ GOLF
Hamilton one stroke back
Former British Open champion Todd Hamilton set up the chance of another European Tour victory when the American moved within a stroke of the Dutch Open second-round lead on Friday. A three-under 67 at a soaking Hilversumche course gave him a seven-under 133 halfway total, one adrift of joint leaders Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and India’s Shiv Kapur. A stroke behind Hamilton is USPGA champion Martin Kaymer of Germany. Kaymer’s Ryder Cup teammates Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher are seven shots behind joint leaders Colsaerts and Kapur, who are chasing maiden tour wins. A lost ball on the sixth damaged Colsaerts cause as he carded a 70 to follow the blistering 62 that earned him the first-round lead. Kapur, trying to follow mentor Jeev Milkha Singh by winning in Europe, returned a 68.
■ RUGBY UNION
Argentina set to join SANZAR
Argentina, set to play in a revamped Four Nations from 2012, have moved a step closer to joining the tournament’s governing body SANZAR, former Pumas captain Agustin Pichot said on Friday. The Argentine Rugby Union, whom Pichot represented at a meeting of SANZAR in Sydney that ended on Friday, wants to secure a permanent place in the southern hemisphere’s top competition. “Now, yes, there is only a little further to go to be officially part of SANZAR when everything is signed,” Pichot was quoted as saying on the union’s Web site. Pichot fought long and hard to obtain a place for the Pumas, who he led to the bronze medal at the 2007 World Cup in France, in a top annual international competition. They are the only team in the world’s top 10 not playing in such an event.
■BASEBALL
Santana out for season
New York Mets pitcher and three-times All-Star Johan Santana has been ruled out for the rest of the season to have shoulder surgery, the team said on Friday. The left-hander has not started since Sept. 2 against the Atlanta Braves when he came out after five outstanding innings because of a strained pectoral muscle. “An MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan yesterday revealed that ... Santana has suffered a tear of the anterior capsule of the left shoulder,” the Mets said in a statement. The Mets said the 31-year-old would have surgery “in the near future” and was expected to resume throwing in the spring.
■ FIELD HOCKEY
Aussies claim fifth place
Australia defeated South Korea 2-1 on Friday to claim fifth place at the women’s World Cup. It was some consolation for the former champions, who failed to reach the semi-finals, having made the final in four of the past five World Cups. In other playoff games on Saturday, New Zealand defeated China 3-0 for seventh place and India beat South Africa 4-3 to claim ninth. Japan defeated Spain 2-1 on Thursday for 11th place. South Korea took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute through Kim Young-ran. Australia leveled 10 minutes later, thanks to Casey Eastham, then Nicole Arrold scored the winner in the 68th minute. Krystal Forgesson, Clarissa Eshuis and Charlotte Harrison scored for New Zealand. It was the Kiwis best finish in a World Cup or Olympics. China failed to score for the third straight match.
■ CRICKET
Disgraced players fly home
The three Pakistan players questioned by British police over claims they were involved in a spot-fixing scandal returned home to protests by angry cricket-lovers yesterday. Test team captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif landed in the eastern city of Lahore in time for the Muslim holiday of Eid, arriving at 4:20am on a Kuwait Airways flight from London. A few hundred protesters picketed the airport with banners and waved shoes as a sign of the players’ disgrace, but they did not get a chance to confront the accused three as the players were whisked away through a back exit.
■ CYCLING
Radioshack appeal to court
Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team appealed to sport’s highest court on Friday after being left out of the Tour of Lombardy lineup. RadioShack said it wants the Court of Arbitration for Sport to rule on whether Italian organizer RCS Sport broke a contract agreed in January by not including the US team in its Oct. 16 event. “We just want to go to the race. We want that RCS fulfills its commitment,” team spokesman Philippe Maertens said. The Lombardy agreement was made when RadioShack informed RCS it would not be racing in the same organizer’s three-week Giro d’Italia in May, Maertens said. RadioShack, which claims to have learned of its exclusion this week through the media, has asked the court to issue a ruling “as soon as possible” and consider awarding it compensation.
■ SOCCER
Crazy penalty a Web hit
It’s been dubbed the craziest penalty in the history of soccer and has made an Internet hit out of a very embarrassed Moroccan goalkeeper. Khalid Askri thought he had saved a crucial spot-kick in a Moroccan Cup game playing for FAR Rabat against Moghreb Fes on Thursday when he pushed the ball away and turned to soak up the adulation of his fans. However, as he saluted the crowd, the ball span back and rolled over the line into the empty net. The goal stood and Fes qualified for the quarter-finals. “Khalid Askri thought he was a hero, but he’s just a zero,” said a report on the Chronofoot Web site.
■ SOCCER
Metz sign Chinese player
French second division side Metz on Friday awarded a professional contract to defender Yi Teng, making him the first Chinese player to turn professional after being trained in Europe. Yi arrived in France two and a half years ago and signed a one-year contract in the presence of Chinese Football Federation general secretary Wei Di.
‘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
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
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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