■CRICKET
Bell’s century seals title
Ian Bell scored a brilliant century to lead Warwickshire to a three-wicket victory in the final of English cricket’s 40-over competition on Saturday, handing Somerset a hat-trick of heartbreaks. Somerset lost the Twenty20 final to Hampshire after a tied total last month, then this week missed out on a first county championship success when they finished level on points with Nottinghamshire, but had to settle for the runners-up spot by virtue of winning one fewer match. Put in to bat at Lord’s, Somerset started well and were looking good at 176-3, but leg spinner Imran Tahir then ripped through them with five wickets in four overs to leave them all out for 199. Warwickshire lost early wickets in the chase and at 39-3 the game seemed to be swinging back toward Somerset, but Warwickshire captain Bell paced his innings to perfection, smashing a series of boundaries for 107 off 95 deliveries, before he holed out when the scores were level. Chris Woakes came in to hit the winning run with an over to spare.
■EQUESTRIAN
Austria’s Steiner dies at 22
Austrian rider Sebastian Steiner died while competing at the Montelibretti International Horse Trials in Italy on Saturday. The 22-year-old Steiner was on a 15-year-old gelding named Cartago when they fell at the 11th fence. The horse was not injured in the incident. Christina Klingspor, president of the ground jury, said in a statement: “On behalf of the whole sport, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Sebastian’s family.” The accident is being investigated.
■CYCLING
Phinney wins US time trial
US cyclist Taylor Phinney defeated Levi Leipheimer to win the USA Cycling professional time trial championship on Saturday. Phinney completed the 49.4km course in a winning time of 41 minutes, 2.5 seconds. Leipheimer was 0.14 seconds behind him. Third place went to Bernard Vanulden with a time of 42 minutes, 15 seconds. Phinney’s father is 1991 professional road race national champion Davis Phinney and his mother, Connie Carpenter, won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic road race.
■TENNIS
Groth claims first WTA title
Australia’s Jarmila Groth claimed her first WTA title yesterday with an easy 6-1, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva at the Guangzhou Open in China. The 23-year-old Groth powered 11 aces past Kudryavtseva to notch the win and take home the US$37,000 winner’s check. She also avenged a loss to the Russian in their previous meeting at Indian Wells in 2008. The Australian — who was the tournament’s top seed — easily lived up to her billing, breezing through the draw without dropping a set and surrendering just five games or fewer per match. She broke Kudryavtseva’s serve five times en route to the title. The 22-year-old Russian was making her first career appearance in a WTA final.
■TENNIS
Pasek to face Mattek-Sands
Austria’s Tamira Pasek and Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US will meet in the final of the WTA Bell Challenge after both posted easy straight-set wins on Saturday. Paszek advanced by cruising past Christina McHale of the US 6-2, 6-2 in the indoor WTA Tour event at Club Advantage Multi-Sports de Quebec. Paszek won her lone WTA title at Portoroz in 2006 at age 15 and was runner up in Bali, Indonesia, two years ago. She will meet Mattek-Sands who upset third seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.
■SPAIN
Mourinho vents frustration
Jose Mourinho has said he was frustrated by what appeared to be Real Madrid objections to his temporarily coaching the Portuguese national team for two Euro 2012 qualifiers next month. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) have approached the two-time Champions League winner to see if he would take charge for the games at home to Denmark on Oct. 8 and away to Iceland four days later. “I don’t understand why Real will not let me coach Portugal when I will have almost nothing to do in Madrid,” Mourinho told Portuguese television, in quotes picked up by the Spanish media on Saturday. “I will have nine days holiday in Madrid while there are international matches.” Real’s director general Jorge Valdano clarified the club’s position. “There has not been an official request from Portugal so we have not declared our position,” he said. “It has been a huge story in the media so the president of the Portuguese federation rang [Real president] Florentino Perez, but this was to say they had dropped the idea. We gave this to mean the issue was over.”
■ENGLAND
QPR move five points clear
Queens Park Rangers surged five points clear at the top of the Championship as free-scoring striker Jamie Mackie struck twice in a 2-0 victory at Leicester. Mackie scored his fifth and sixth goals of the league campaign, a superb looping header followed by a virtuoso individual effort. The win was QPR’s fifth in six games as they chase a return to the Premier League, which they last graced in the 1995-1996 season. Ipswich meanwhile moved up into second spot with a 2-0 win over Cardiff. An Adam Matthews own goal and a Jason Scotland effort secured the points. At the New Den, Millwall’s hopes of establishing themselves as title contenders received a savaging in a 6-1 defeat by Watford.
■BRAZIL
Cursing striker suspended
Brazil striker Neymar was suspended for at least one match by Santos on Saturday for cursing at his teammates and his coach in a Brazilian league match. Santos had already fined Neymar and the 18-year-old player issued an apology for his outburst after not being allowed to take a penalty kick in a match on Wednesday. Coach Dorival Junior said the fine was not enough and reportedly threatened to quit if Santos didn’t give Neymar a harsher punishment. Santos president Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro said in a statement that Neymar would not play against Guarani yesterday. “At first, the club’s management felt that the [fine] handed to Neymar was enough to put an end to the issue,” Ribeiro said in the statement. “After another request by the coach, I decided that a conciliatory solution was needed. For now, Neymar is out of the match against Guarani.”
■BRAZIL
Keeper in suicide bid: lawyer
The lawyer of a Brazilian goalkeeper charged with ordering the killing of his former lover says the player attempted suicide in jail. Lawyer Ercio Quaresma told local media that former Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno tried to kill himself two times as he awaits trial on charges he ordered the killing of an ex-lover who allegedly was trying to prove he was the father of her young son. Court officials said Bruno’s friend and cellmate, Luiz Henrique Romao, who has been charged with helping the goalkeeper, also told a judge that Bruno attempted suicide. The Rio de Janeiro state public safety department issued a statement denying that Bruno had tried to kill himself.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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