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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
S P ORTS
India to appeal against
Sarita Devi’s suspension
Nigeria face yet another
suspension from FIFA
Disgraced Anelka set for
comeback in Indian league
NEW DELHI: The president of Boxing India wants AIBA to revoke a provisional suspension on female boxer L. Sarita Devi for protesting at the Asian
Games. Devi protested against the decision in the 60-kilogram bout by
refusing to bend down to let the medal be placed over her
neck. She then took the medal and slipped it onto the neck
of Park Ji-na, who had been declared the winner of the
semifinal bout. The South Korean boxer tried to give it
back, then left it on the podium.
“It was purely an emotional reaction and not preplanned,” Sandeep Jajodia said yesterday after a meeting
with sports ministry and Indian Olympic Association officials to discuss the course of action. “We don’t deny that it
was disrespectful toward the code of conduct for
athletes but she tendered an unconditional
apology.” The protest prompted AIBA technical
delegate David Francis to say it “looked like a
well-planned scenario by her and her
team.”—AP
CAPE TOWN: Nigeria face another suspension from FIFA that would not be
lifted until May, putting the country out of the running for a place at 2015
African Nations Cup finals. The Jos High Court ruled last Thursday that the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) elections on Sept. 30 that elected Amaju
Pinnick president be declared null and void, throwing the country’s football back into crisis. After Nigeria were twice suspended this year for government interference in the NFF, FIFA confirmed in a letter to the NFF in the
lead-up to their latest elections that more meddling would bring about an
automatic suspension to run at least until FIFA’s elective congress in May
2015. Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou had a
meeting with Nigerian officials in Windhoek, Namibia on Saturday ahead of
the final of the African Women’s Championships that saw the Super Falcons
defeat Cameroon. Nigerian media reported Hayatou told sports minister
Tammy Danagogo that unless the latest court order is reversed, FIFA will
act on Monday. As yet, there have been no signs of that. Justice Ambrose
Allagoa ruled last week that the elective congress of the NFF on Sept. 30
should not be recognised as the Jos High Court had put in place 11 days
earlier an order that the elections could not be held.—Reuters
NEW DELHI: Disgraced French striker Nicolas Anelka is set to return to
action on Tuesday after serving a five-match ban for a gesture deemed to
be anti-semitic and known as a “quenelle”.
The 35-year-old former Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus and Real Madrid star
is expected to turn out for his Indian Super League team Mumbai FC
against Chennaiyin FC in the southern city of Chennai.
Anelka missed the Peter Reid-coached team’s first three
matches, in which they beat FC Pune City 5-0 but lost 2-0
to Northeast United and 3-0 to Atletico de Kolkata. Reid
will be relieved at Anelka’s return since Mumbai’s other
top player, Freddie Ljungberg of Sweden, is almost certain to miss the rest of the eight-team league due to a
hamstring injury.
“We’ve got a few plus points for our next game, Nicolas
Anelka will be in the side,” Reid, the former Manchester
City and Sunderland boss, tweeted after the last
match.—AFP
Earnhardt wins clock at
Martinsville Speedway
MARTINSVILLE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. roamed
around Martinsville Speedway as a child,
soaking in the sights and the sounds and
the smells while his dad collected six of the
treasured grandfather clocks awarded to
the winner.
Earnhardt desperately wanted to win at
the historic short track, to bring one of
those big ‘ol clocks home to his house. In
his 30th try, he finally got his clock.
Earnhardt raced to his first Martinsville
victory Sunday, a week after he was eliminated from the Chase for the Sprint Cup
championship. It was his fourth win of the
season, but perhaps the one he treasured
most. “This place has a special meaning
and a special place in the series and the
sport,” he said. “I’ve been coming here since
the early ‘80s, watching races here. Dad
won several races here, brought home several clocks. I remember one in particular
that set at the front door, in the hall by the
stairs. Had this little round rug right in that
hallway that I’d run my Matchbox cars on,
listening to the race. That clock would ring
on the hour.
“I always wanted one. The clock seems
so hard to get. This is very personal and
very special to me to be able to win here.”
It was 10 years ago this weekend that a
Hendrick Motorsports plane on its way to
the race crashed, killing all 10 on board.
Lost on that day were team owner Rick
Hendrick’s son, brother, twin nieces, the
team general manger, head engine builder,
a key sponsor representative, two Hendrick
pilots and a pilot for Tony Stewart.
So his four drivers try desperately to win
at Martinsville for Hendrick, for the organization, for those who died that October
day. It was Earnhardt who pulled it off, with
teammate Jeff Gordon right behind him in
a 1-2 finish for Hendrick.
Hendrick, who often doesn’t decide
until race day if he’s emotionally able to
travel to Martinsville, was present for the
win. “This is an extraordinary man that
when all that went down, two days later he
was at Hendrick Motorsports speaking to
all the employees,” Gordon said. “It’s just the
kind of person that he is. I know it’s not
easy on him. I really do. I know that it puts
extra pressure on us at Hendrick
Motorsports when he’s here to get that win
because it’s a way to really pay tribute. It’s
the ultimate way you can do it.”
OTHER THINGS:
EARNHARDT’S CLOCK: Now that
Earnhardt has his clock, he’s got to figure
out where to put it. He said placement will
largely depend on where longtime girlfriend, Amy, wants the clock, but he was
relieved in Victory Lane when he heard her
say the timepiece was “beautiful.”
Although he’s hopeful it ends up in the
living room, Earnhardt said he’d be willing
to make the clock a display for all to see. “I
want to put it just inside the front door
where you got to walk around the damn
thing when you come in the house,” he
said. “But she probably won’t let me set it
there.”
HARVICK-KENSETH: Kevin Harvick’s
championship chances took a huge hit
when Matt Kenseth spun him just past the
midway point. Although Kenseth felt terrible about the incident, Harvick didn’t care.
“He won’t win this championship,”
Harvick said about Kenseth. “If we don’t, he
won’t.” The accident caused Harvick to finish 33rd, and dropped him to last in the
eight-driver Chase field. He’s 33 points
behind leader Gordon and 28 points
behind Kenseth, who is fourth and the current transfer spot to the Nov. 16 championship round at Homestead.
“I don’t blame him for feeling like that,”
Kenseth said. “It was a mistake. He was an
innocent bystander. He was at the wrong
place at the wrong time.”
STEWART’S STRONG RUN: Stewart tied
his best finish of the season Sunday and
had his highest finish he was fifth at
Fontana in March. But he’s still winless on
the season, and has just three races remaining to avoid the first winless year of his 16year career.
Still, running up front, even for one race,
was an encouraging sign for Stewart-Haas
Racing. “Tony did a good job,” said competition director Greg Zipadelli. “Let’s hope we
can build some momentum here. Him running better will help everybody else in our
organization, so that’s the main focus.”
KESELOWSKI’S
CRASH:
Brad
Keselowski pulled himself out of a huge
championship hole when he won at
Talladega to stave off elimination in the
Chase. A week later, he’s right back in trouble. A mechanical problem caused him to
slow on the track late in the race and it triggered a chain-reaction crash that collected
several drivers - including title contender
Carl Edwards.
Keselowski, who has a series-best six
wins, finished 31st. He’s now seventh in the
eight-driver Chase field. “It’s been tough,
but it builds character and makes us
stronger,” Keselowski said. “With this format, we’re by no means out.”
NEWMAN’S FINISH: Ryan Newman
continued to quietly put up big finishes in
the Chase with a third-place finish at
Martinsville.
He now has five consecutive top-10 finishes in the Chase, and goes into next
week’s race at Texas ranked second in the
standings. Few expected Newman, in his
first year with Richard Childress Racing, to
still be competing in the Chase in the third
round. Yet his numbers have been strong
and consistency may get him into the final
round. “We were the 16th seed coming in
without a win. We’ve not won yet,” he said.
“We were tied for the lead in the points
with four races to go. Mathematically it has
played to my advantage, as others, but
probably mine mostly.
EDWARDS NEARS THE END: Carl
Edwards felt he had as good a shot as anyone to advance out of the third round of
the Chase. But his Roush Fenway Racing
team was off all day Sunday as he ran near
the back of the pack. Then he was caught
in Keselowski’s incident and felt lucky to
leave Martinsville with a 20th-place finish.
He’s sixth in the Chase standings.
“We planned on running a lot better
than that, but at the end of the day, we still
came home 20th and we could have lost
our minds there,” he said. —AP
LOS ANGELES: Adam Cracknell No. 32 of the Columbus Blue Jackets makes a play from the ice away from Jarret Stoll No. 28 of the Los Angeles
Kings during the third period of a 5-2 King’s win at Staples Center. —AFP
Kings demolish Blue Jackets
LOS ANGELES: Jeff Carter scored during a twoman advantage in Los Angeles’ three-goal second period, and the Kings completed a sweep of
a six-game homestand with a 5-2 victory over
the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Columbus left wing Nick Foligno was seriously injured with 11:34 left. He was taken off on a
stretcher while wearing a neck brace. Carter
checked him along the boards in front of the
Kings bench, and Foligno’s head rammed into
the elbow of linesman Shane Heyer, who had
jumped on top of the boards in an attempt to
avoid both players.
Tanner Pearson scored twice in the third for
the Kings, who swept a homestand of at least six
games for the first time. The defending Stanley
Cup champions didn’t win more than five in a
row at home at any time last season. Tyler Toffoli
and Dwight King also scored for the Kings.
Jonathan Quick made 22 saves. Columbus’
Sergei Bobrovsky, who was trying for his 100th
NHL victory, stopped 22 shots. Defenseman Tim
Erixon scored his first NHL goal, and Mark
Letestu also scored for the Blue Jackets.
JETS 2, AVALANCHE 1
Bryan Little scored at 4:35 of overtime, lifting
Winnipeg over Colorado. Little redirected
Andrew Ladd’s backhander past Semyon
Varlamov for his fifth goal of the season. Ladd
also had the game’s first goal. Ondrej Pavelec
made 22 saves. Jamie McGinn scored for
Colorado. Varlamov stopped 26 shots.
Winnipeg spent a lot of time in Colorado’s
end at the start of the game and it paid off when
Ladd stood in front of the net and redirected
Zach Bogosian’s shot from the point through
Varlamov’s legs at 6:25. It was Ladd’s 100th goal
with the Winnipeg franchise.
SHARKS 4, DUCKS 1
Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels scored power-play goals as San Jose emphatically snapped
a four-game losing streak with a fight-filled victory over Anaheim. Brent Burns and MarcEdouard Vlasic also scored for the Sharks, who
ended Anaheim’s seven-game winning streak
with just their second victory in seven games.
Antti Niemi made 33 saves as San Jose
rebounded aggressively from an embarrassing
home loss to lowly Buffalo on Saturday, taking a
3-0 lead after two dominant periods. The third
turned into a prolonged brawl featuring 127
penalty minutes and ending with Ryan Getzlaf
and Corey Perry in the Ducks’ dressing room.
Matt Beleskey scored for the Western
Conference-leading Ducks, who hadn’t lost since
opening night on Oct. 9.
Frederik Andersen stopped 33 shots, but his
10-start winning streak ended as Anaheim
wrapped up a five-game homestand with an
unimpressive effort against a Pacific Division
rival. Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture had
two assists apiece for the Sharks.
BLACKHAWKS 2, SENATORS 1
Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook scored
and Scott Darling made 32 saves in his NHL
debut as Chicago ended a two-game losing
streak with a victory over Ottawa.
Patrick Kane assisted on Toews’ goal for his
500th NHL point. Milan Michalek scored a shorthanded goal for the Senators, who have
dropped two straight. The game featured a
matchup of goalies from the Chicago area.
Darling, a native of Lemont, Illinois, was
steady as he faced a handful of tough chances.
Ottawa’s Craig Anderson, from Park Ridge,
Illinois, stopped 43 shots, including a secondperiod penalty shot by Andrew Shaw. Corey
Crawford, Chicago’s No. 1 goalie, missed his
fourth game because of an upper-body injury.
CANUCKS 4, CAPITALS 2
Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata both had a
goal and an assist as Vancouver topped
Washington. Henrik Sedin and Luca Sbisa also
scored for the Canucks (5-3), and Chris Higgins
had two assists.
Ryan Miller made 20 saves to earn his fifth
win of the season. Marcus Johansson and Liam
O’Brien had goals, and Mike Green added two
assists for Washington (4-2-2), which went 1-2
during a three-game swing through Western
Canada. The Capitals won at Calgar y on
Saturday night. Justin Peters, starting in place
of No. 1 goalie Braden Holtby, finished with 30
saves. After a scoreless first period, the teams
broke out for five goals in the second.
Vancouver scored three times in a span of 1:47
to grab a 3-1 lead. —AP
NHL results/standings
Winnipeg 2, Colorado 1 (OT); Los Angeles 5, Columbus 2; Chicago 2, Ottawa 1; San Jose 4, Anaheim 1.
Anaheim
Los Angeles
Calgary
San Jose
Vancouver
Arizona
Edmonton
Nashville
Chicago
Dallas
Minnesota
St. Louis
Colorado
Winnipeg
Western Conference
Pacific Division
W
L
OTL GF
7
2
0 30
6
1
1 22
5
4
1 26
5
4
1 32
5
3
0 27
3
3
1 18
3
4
1 23
Central Division
5
1
2 19
5
2
1 22
4
2
2 29
4
2
0 19
3
3
1 16
2
4
3 20
3
5
0 15
GA PTS
19 14
12 13
22 11
28 11
26 10
25
7
32
7
16
14
29
6
15
29
21
12
11
10
8
7
7
6
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Montreal
7
1
0 25
22 14
Tampa Bay
5
3
1 27
23 11
Detroit
4
2
2 18
17 10
Boston
5
5
0 26
24 10
Ottawa
4
2
1 17
15
9
Florida
2
2
3 10
16
7
Toronto
3
4
1 21
25
7
Buffalo
2
7
0 11
29
4
Metropolitan Division
NY Islanders
6
2
0 32
27 12
New Jersey
4
2
2 25
25 10
Washington
4
2
2 25
19 10
Pittsburgh
4
2
1 25
19
9
Columbus
4
4
0 23
25
8
Philadelphia
3
3
2 26
30
8
NY Rangers
4
4
0 22
26
8
Carolina
0
5
2 14
29
2
Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the
standings and are not included in the loss column (L).
Locals bemoan foreign raids on Australian prizes
MARTINSVILLE: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Guard
Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500. —AFP
MELBOURNE: Irish eyes were smiling after
Aidan O’Brien’s Adelaide won the A$3 million
($2.64 million) Cox Plate in Melbourne on
Saturday, but the result was less cheering to
local trainers worried about “foreign” raids on
Australia’s top silverware.
Adelaide’s win came a week after Japanesetrained stayer Admire Rakti won the Caulfield
Cup, the first of the two key lead-up races to the
$6.2 million Melbourne Cup, Australia’s richest
and most famous race. Admire Rakti was quickly
installed a 4/1 favourite to win the gruelling
two-mile handicap at Flemington Racecourse on
Nov. 4, despite carrying the top weight of 58.5
kilogrammes. If the Tomoyuki Umeda-trained
stallion fails to prosper- no entrant has won carr ying more than 58 kg in nearly 40 yearsGerman stayer Protectionist, currently second
favourite at 5/1, might well. Twice runner-up Red
Cadeaux is also among the nine other international runners expected to make up the 24
entrants, leaving barely half the field reserved
for local horses-“local” meaning Australian or
New Zealand-trained entrants in the domestic
industry’s neighbourly definition of the term.
With up to 11 foreign-prepared entrants, a
record for a race dating back to 1861, the possibility of all three of Australia’s biggest Spring racing trophies going overseas has sparked protectionist calls.
Local trainer David Hayes, a Melbourne Cup
winner with Jeune in 1994, believes organisers
should consider capping the number of “foreign
raiders” allowed in the Melbourne Cup field.
“It’s worked very successfully in Hong Kong
where they allow positions to be left for locally
trained horses and the rest of the race is made
up of horses coming in from all parts of the
world,” Hayes told Fairfax Media. “And this could
also be implemented here for the Melbourne
Cup. I’m not talking silly figures, what I’m saying
is that people like (handicapper) Greg Carpenter
and the club could work out the balance so it’s
just right between internationals and locals.
“And what I mean by locals is that those stables that have gone around the world, purchased horses and brought them home to
Australian stables should rightfully be deemed
locals.”
GAMBLE WORTH TAKING
The last two Melbourne Cups were won by
locally trained Fiorente (2013) and Green Moon
(2012), but three of the previous six were won by
a pair of French stayers in Dunaden (2011) and
Americain (2010), and Japanese runner Delta
Blues (2006).—Reuters