Saturday 27 April 2013

FW: Win puts Ajax on verge of Dutch title hat-trick

 

 

Feed: Sport Yahoo UK
Posted on: Sunday, April 28, 2013 04:38
Author: Sport Yahoo UK
Subject: Win puts Ajax on verge of Dutch title hat-trick

 

By Theo Ruizenaar

ROTTERDAM (Reuters) - Ajax Amsterdam stayed firmly on course for a third straight Dutch championship title after winning 2-0 at NAC Breda on Saturday.

The leaders have 70 points with two matches remaining and can secure the crown next week with a victory at home to bottom club Willem II Tilburg.

Breda, five points above the relegation playoffs, played well in the first half and went close to scoring when a header from Eric Botteghin hit the bar.

Iceland striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson then put the visitors in front two minutes into the second half when he netted despite having his back to goal.

Five minutes later Tim Gilissen headed the ball into his own goal as he tried to clear a corner at the near post.

"It wasn't easy today. They started at a furious pace and put us under pressure but the opening goal settled us down," said Ajax skipper Siem de Jong.

Jeremain Lens struck twice as second-placed PSV Eindhoven remained four points off the pace with a 5-2 win over Groningen.

Tim Matavz, Dries Mertens (penalty) and Mark van Bommel were also on target for PSV while Michael de Leeuw bagged a double for Groningen.

Second from bottom VVV Venlo raced four points clear of Willem II with a 1-1 draw at ADO Den Haag.

The bottom club go down and the next two teams go through to a relegation playoff.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)


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FW: Number one Selby knocked out of world championship

 

 

Feed: Sport Yahoo UK
Posted on: Sunday, April 28, 2013 03:37
Author: Sport Yahoo UK
Subject: Number one Selby knocked out of world championship

 

(Reuters) - The world's top-ranked player Mark Selby was knocked out of the world snooker championship 13-10 after a stunning comeback by Barry Hawkins at the Crucible in Sheffield, England on Saturday.

Selby was attempting to add the world title to his UK and masters crowns but, having led the last-16 match 9-7 overnight, saw his opponent dominate the rest of the encounter.

"I struggled all the way through the match," Selby was quoted as saying on the official website (www.worldsnooker.com).

"Barry played a lot better than me and scored a lot better than me. It is the same old story really, most of this season I have been struggling like that. I have won two majors but I have not really played that well."

Only four players - Steve Davies, Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams - have won the three major titles in the same season.

Selby missed the chance to go 10-7 ahead when he missed a relatively simple black and struggled to regain momentum.

Australian Open champion and world number 14 Hawkins will meet either Mark King or Ding Junhui in the last eight.

"It is my best ever result," he said. "It feels like I have won the world championship but I have not even made it through the quarter-finals yet."

Ronnie O'Sullivan leads Ali Carter, who he beat in last year's final, 5-3 with eight frames scheduled for Sunday.

(Reporting by Josh Reich; Editing by Ken Ferris)


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Tuesday 23 April 2013

PREVIEW-Soccer-Lewandowski affect extremley unlikely that will reduction Dortmund center

Feed: Sport Yahoo UK
Posted on: Tuesday, April 23, 2013 15:35
Author: Sport Yahoo UK
Subject: PREVIEW-Soccer-Lewandowski knock unlikely to dent Dortmund focus

 

An injury scare to Bundesliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski is unlikely to derail unbeaten Borussia Dortmund's focus ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday as they bid for their first final spot since 1997.

Poland international Lewandowski, who scored for a 12th consecutive league game in their 2-0 win against Mainz 05 on Saturday, picked up a knock on his thigh but said he hoped to be fit in time for the match in Dortmund.

"I felt some pain in the final minute (after a first-half knock) and hope it does not swell up," he said after Dortmund secured their Champions League spot for next season. "I hope there's enough time until Wednesday."

Lewandowski is Dortmund's most prolific scorer in Europe this season with six goals and two assists in 10 games.

"The game against Mainz was strange because we also kept thinking of the Madrid game. I want to score at least one goal every time I play and if I can achieve that against Madrid then even better."

For coach Juergen Klopp's young team, which won consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, it is a career highlight, with the 1997 Champions League winners back in the last four for the first time in 15 years.

"This is the biggest game so far that my boys will have to play," Klopp told reporters.

The last time they reached this stage - in 1998 - it was Real who eliminated them en route to the title.

The nine-time European champions are no strangers to Dortmund this season either with the Germans beating them in Dortmund and Real escaping with a last-gasp 2-2 draw in Madrid in the group stage.

With central defender Mats Hummels and Jakub Blaszczykowski gradually hitting top form after their injury breaks, Klopp has a full squad to choose from.

"We are ready to give it everything we have against the biggest club in the world because if you reach the semi-final then you obviously want to get into that final," Klopp said.

MARCELO ABSENCE

Real's 3-1 La Liga victory at home to Real Betis on Saturday came at a cost, with fullback Marcelo and midfielder Luka Modric picking up muscle injuries.

Goalkeeper Diego Lopez and forward Karim Benzema complained of knocks but assistant coach Aitor Karanka said neither seemed serious.

With right back Alvaro Arbeloa suspended, coach Jose Mourinho will have to shuffle his defence and is likely to switch Sergio Ramos over to replace his Spain team mate and bring France centre back Raphael Varane into the middle alongside Pepe.

Still only 19, the pacy and athletic Varane, who was introduced to the club by former France and Real player Zinedine Zidane, has impressed with a series of mature performances this season, particularly against Real's arch-rivals Barcelona.

"This is a key position, and you must bring some security, that's very important," Varane told the club website (www.realmadrid.com). "You must also communicate well and have a good sense of positioning. In this position you play a lot with your head, you have to think a lot, these are important skills to possess.

"We have seen that they (Dortmund) are a very good team. They have not reached the semi-finals by chance, we saw in the group phase that they have a quality squad. We will need to be strong and play very well.

"It's true that they are a team who switch into attack very fast, they love attacking. That is our game as well, so those are always nice games to follow."

Teams (probable):

Borussia Dortmund: 1-Roman Weidenfeller; 26-Lukasz Piszczek, 4-Neven Subotic, 15-Mats Hummels, 29-Marcel Schmelzer; 8-Ilkay Guendogan, 18-Nuri Sahin; 16-Jakub Blaszczykowski, 10-Mario Goetze, 11-Marco Reus; 9-Robert Lewandowski

Real Madrid: 41-Diego Lopez; 4-Sergio Ramos, 3-Pepe, 2-Raphael Varane, 5-Fabio Coentrao; 6-Sami Khedira, 14-Xabi Alonso; 22-Angel Di Maria, 10-Mesut Ozil, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo; 9-Karim Benzema

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Sunday 14 April 2013

Today: Scott wins Masters in playoff

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Former champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina stayed on track for a third major title by moving two strokes clear of the field midway through Sunday's final round at the Masters.

The 43-year-old from Cordoba, who clinched his first green jacket in a three-way playoff for the 2009 Masters, birdied the second and seventh to reach the turn in two-under 34, nine under for the tournament.

His American playing partner, Brandt Snedeker, was alone in second at seven under with Australians Jason Day and Adam Scott a further stroke back in a tie for third.

Day had completed 10 holes and Scott nine on a wet, overcast day at Augusta National where they were each hoping to end an Australian jinx at the Masters by winning a first green jacket for their country.

Another Australian, Marc Leishman, was at five under while four-times champion and pre-tournament favourite Tiger Woods was six strokes off the pace after 11 holes.

Woods' bid for a 15th major title, and his first since 2008, was effectively ended when he made bogeys at the fifth and seventh, though he rebounded with successive birdies at the ninth and 10th to get back to three under.

Day made an explosive birdie-eagle start to the final round, sinking a slick 20-footer at the par-four first before holing out from a greenside bunker to eagle the par-five second.

That briefly put the 25-year-old in the outright lead but he was joined at the top after Snedeker birdied the first and Cabrera two-putted for birdie at the second.

Snedeker, co-leader overnight, faltered with bogeys at the fourth and fifth in steady drizzle and 2007 U.S. Open champion Cabrera forged ahead when he struck a superb approach to inside a foot at the par-four seventh and tapped in the birdie putt.

GRIPPING FINISH

The opening major of the year was once again seemingly heading for a gripping finish under leaden skies at Augusta National where possible thunderstorms have been forecast for later in the day.

Huge roars echoed around the 18th green well before the leaders teed off after China's 14-year-old Guan Tianlang, the feel-good story of the tournament, two-putted for par to sign off with a 75.

The youngest competitor ever at the Masters, Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Guan had already clinched the silver cup awarded to the low amateur at the Masters after becoming the youngest player to make the cut at a major championship.

"The whole week was great for me," a remarkably composed and thoughtful Guan told reporters after finishing at 12-over-par. "I really enjoy it, and I'm having fun. I learned a lot.

"It's not easy to play here, to make the cut and be low amateur. I think I did a pretty good job this week and can't believe it's over."

Northern Irish world number two Rory McIlroy, whose Masters title bid was derailed by his third-round 79, signed off with a 69 for a two over total of 290.

"I played well. It was tough conditions the first couple of days and I was in a good position going into the weekend," said McIlroy. "I didn't quite have it all yesterday and that really cost me. You have to be right on your game for 72 holes here."

Three-times Masters champion Phil Mickelson concluded a disappointing week with a 73 to finish at nine over, two strokes worse than fellow American and defending champion Bubba Watson who closed with a 77.

The low point of Watson's round came at the par-three 12th where he ran up an ugly 10 after finding the water of Rae's Creek three times.

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Friday 12 April 2013

England's banner lures higher in the Experts

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and David Lynn kept their country's flag flying high at the Masters on Friday as they stayed on track to earn England a first victory at Augusta National in nearly two decades.

It has been 17 years since compatriot Nick Faldo surged past Greg Norman to claim his third green jacket in the season's opening major and the English trio were well placed to follow suit after ending the second round three strokes off the lead.

World number three Rose and 13th-ranked Westwood each carded 71s while Lynn returned a 73 on a tricky day for scoring in the face of several tough pin positions as the breezes swirled amid the Georgian pines.

"I just I need to warm my putter up," Rose, 32, told reporters after finishing at three-under 141. "I haven't made a putt in two days and I am where I am, so I'm very encouraged by that.

"I'm trying to stay patient right now. And typically, when I've won tournaments, that's what's happened. My putter has heated up on the weekend and I've been able to take advantage of my good play.

"So I feel like I played very well the first two days and I'm just waiting for that blade to warm up. If I stay patient, I give myself a very good chance that that will happen."

Rose has not won a title in over a year but has been ultra-consistent this season, recording top-10 finishes in his last three PGA Tour starts, including runner-up spot behind Tiger Woods at last month's Arnold Palmer Invitational.

PLODDING PLAY

Westwood, widely viewed as the best player of his generation yet to win a major, has posted two top-threes in his last three appearances at the Masters and was delighted with his "plodding" play on Friday.

"I did what I needed to do with the conditions, in the conditions," the former world number one said after ending his round with two birdies in the last five holes.

"I played solidly. I hit it in the right places a lot of the time. I didn't hit it in the wrong places very often, just once on the fifth in the trap.

"And I was plodding my way around the golf course like you have to when it gets tricky around here. It just feels like that kind of day and that kind of week where nobody's going to run away. It's a difficult golf course to shoot really low on."

Lynn, who stunned the golfing world with a runner-up finish at last year's PGA Championship in only his second major appearance, followed his opening 68 with a 73 but was thrilled to remain in contention after playing "boring" golf.

"I was just grinding out the pars," the 39-year-old journeyman said after matching his two compatriots by ending the day on a flourish with a birdie at the par-four 18th.

"I actually had quite a few chances on the back nine, so to finally finish with a birdie ... I hit a fantastic shot into the last to about six feet.

"As we can see by the numbers on the scoreboard, nobody is running away with it, so boring is good."

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Bertrand and Ba should be back for Chelsea's Wembley trip

LONDON (Reuters) - Holders Chelsea should have striker Demba Ba and defender Ryan Bertrand available for Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley.

Senegal international Ba, who was ineligible for Thursday's Europa League quarter-final at Rubin Kazan, suffered an ankle problem in last weekend's 2-1 Premier League victory over Sunderland and had to go off at halftime.

England fullback Bertrand, who has been deputising in the absence of the injured Ashley Cole, missed the trip to Russia due to illness.

Interim manager Rafael Benitez told a news conference that Ba and Bertrand took part in a light training session on Friday and he expected both players to be in his squad against City.

Cole and centre back Gary Cahill are again out with long-term injury problems.

Second-placed City beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Premier League in February but Benitez said he learned some valuable lessons from that defeat at the Etihad Stadium.

"We know what we did wrong when we played against them," said the Spaniard. "We will try to do these things well on Sunday.

"City are in a good position in the table and they did well against Manchester United the other day," added Benitez, referring to their 2-1 win over the Premier League leaders on Monday.

"We know it will be difficult but it is a semi-final of a massive competition."

A much-changed Chelsea side lost 3-2 against Rubin in Moscow and squeezed through 5-4 on aggregate to set up a Europa League semi-final against Swiss club Basel.

The European champions have had five fixtures in 13 days and Benitez was full of praise for the way his players had dealt with their gruelling schedule.

"The squad are doing really well," he said. "They are working very hard and I can change players and still keep a good level so I am really pleased with that.

"It is an advantage (for City), I don't know how much but we are trying to manage our squad and team selection and we have some players with fresh legs."

 

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Thursday 11 April 2013

The Premier League sought to put an end to contentious goalline decisions by approving the introduction of technology and adopting the British Hawk-Eye system on Thursday

Feed: Sport Yahoo UK
Posted on: Thursday, April 11, 2013 21:12
Author: Sport Yahoo UK
Subject: English Premier League chooses Hawk-Eye system

 

All 20 top-flight clubs voted to approve the technology at a meeting of Premier League chairman.

The decision comes a week after world soccer's governing body FIFA approved the appointment of German-based GoalControl for the Confederations Cup in Brazil this year and the World Cup in 2014.

"The Premier League is pleased to announce that it has awarded Hawk-Eye, the world's leading provider of vision processing instruments to sport, the contract to provide goalline technology systems across its 20 member clubs and all 380 Barclays Premier League matches," the league said in a statement.

"This will be the first time that goalline technology is used in any domestic competition."

The British based company Hawk-Eye known for its ball-tracking technology used in tennis and cricket, claims to be "millimetre accurate ensuring no broadcast replays could disprove the decision".

The system to be used in the Premier League will notify the referee if the ball has crossed the line within one second.

The Football Association wants technology to be introduced at the pre-season Community Shield fixture after lobbying for it for some time, sanctioning its testing at an England v Belgium international friendly last June.

Installation of the system, which involves seven cameras behind each goal, is expected to take up to six weeks to complete at the 20 clubs competing in the Premier League next season.

While FIFA's European cousin UEFA steadfastly refuses to adopt technology, preferring instead to use extra officials behind the goal, crucial momentum now seems to have swung behind using electronic systems.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was convinced by the failure of officials to award a goal in England's World Cup clash with Germany in 2010 when a Frank Lampard shot clearly crossed the line.

The debate intensified during Euro 2012 when co-hosts Ukraine were denied an equaliser as the ball appeared to cross the line in a 1-0 defeat by England, despite UEFA's extra official being positioned behind the goal.

 

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Wednesday 10 April 2013

The united kingdomt are unable to triumph World Cup as a consequence of unfamiliar development tutorial Charlton

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - England are unlikely to become world champions again because the country's Premier League is now flooded with foreign players, 1966 World Cup winner Bobby Charlton said on Wednesday.

"I worry a bit. Every year I feel when one of the newspapers wants me to give an opinion on whether there is a chance to win the World Cup or whatever, I feel obliged to say 'yes they have got a chance' but I think it's a fool's errand," Charlton told delegates at the Soccerex Business Forum.

"I feel that we need good players and if all of the spaces in the English game are taken up by foreigners then we don't have any chance.

"I'm not saying that it is not fair but it is hard to think that we can win a World Cup when you see the quality now," added Charlton, who played 106 times for England between 1958 and 1970 and is still the country's record goalscorer with 49 goals.

"The only thing that gives me a bit of hope is that I do see good coaching and I do see English coaches having as much to say in world terms as anyone else".

Charlton, who spent almost his entire career at Manchester United and won the European Cup in 1968, highlighted how Manchester City's recent run of success is mostly reliant on the club's overseas players.

City were transformed in 2008 when Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi bought the club and has since spent more than one billion dollars on players and infrastructure, ending a 35-year wait for honours when they won the FA Cup in 2011 and captured their first top flight league title for 44 years in 2012.

"The difference from City five or six years ago is that they did not have any foreign players and once they had the finance to do it, they went into the market and got some good players.

"They are going to be a hard team to beat."

While Charlton painted a bleak future for England, Dan Ashworth, the FA's new Director of Elite Development, was more optimistic as he outlined plans to end the nation's 47-year wait for another major title.

"The World Cup is a very tough tournament to win but I think the signs are there. We have some good young players coming through, five or six that look like they are going to be the nucleus of the national team and we have to build on that," Ashworth said.

"We have to make sure that (England manager) Roy Hodgson and future England managers have a bigger base and a better base of players available to play on the world stage. It is not going to happen overnight, but that is what we must aim for."

Source: Britain cannot succeed World Cup because of overseas increase -- Charlton

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Monday 8 April 2013

Derby succeed requests Town to begin conspiring with regard to following time of year

Manchester City's 2-1 win over Premier League leaders Manchester United on Monday was too little too late for manager Roberto Mancini who is already focusing his attention on next season's title race.

Sergio Aguero's outstanding 78th-minute winner allowed champions City to close the gap on their neighbours to 12 points but it was more of a 'nice-to-have' result than a fate-changing victory for this campaign.

"We know we can win the title next year," Mancini told a news conference after his team's second successive league win at Old Trafford, following last season's 6-1 thrashing.

"This year we have made some mistakes unfortunately but now we can't do anything, the season is gone. It is important we continue to win ... we need to continue to play like this for next season."

Second place in the league is what the Italian is striving for with seven games remaining. City also have the chance of silverware as they play holders Chelsea in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday.

"I think it will be a different game, it's a semi-final and Chelsea are in a good moment," said Mancini who is likely to be without playmaker David Silva after he went off with a hamstring injury on Monday.

Mancini previously said City's timid defence of their title had been partly down to a failure to bring in some quality signings, including missing out on top striker Robin van Persie who joined United in the close season from Arsenal.

The Italian also reckoned a spate of injuries to key players were to blame, saying his expensive squad could not cope with the situation.

"This season we had some problems with some important players injured - Aguero, Yaya (Toure), (Vincent) Kompany ... we are not a team who can lose important players like this," said Mancini.

"We are not so strong that we can lose three or four players like this together."

Whatever happens this season, one thing is for sure in Mancini's mind - City will not trail United by 15 points again.

"No, I think we showed this tonight," he said before adding that United deserved to win what will be their 20th league title.

United manager Alex Ferguson, who has refused to watch a re-run of last season's Old Trafford humiliation at the hands of City, had less to be upset about in his team's performance this time.

"It was a very intense game, very competitive with two of the best teams in the country," he told the BBC.

"I thought we were the better team in the second half but we know Sergio Aguero is a fantastic finisher and we gave him a lot of room for (the winner).

"I was pleased with the second-half performance. There were a lot of plus sides. Van Persie was fantastic today and Wayne Rooney got some time on the pitch after coming back from injury."

 

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Branson will take off within pull in order to complete F1 wager

(Reuters) - Richard Branson will take to the skies as an airline stewardess on a charity flight next month to finally fulfil a bet with aviation rival Tony Fernandes over the fortunes of their teams in the 2010 Formula One season.

AirAsia chief Fernandes, who once worked for Branson's music business, bet the British entrepreneur that his Lotus Racing team would do better in their debut season than Virgin Racing team with the loser dressing up as an female flight attendant.

Lotus F1 finished 10th in the constructors' championship to Virgin's 12th and so on May 12, Branson - "complete with make-up, a pair of high heels and freshly shaved legs" - will join the AirAsia X cabin crew on a flight from Perth to Kula Lumpur.

"The day of reckoning for Sir Richard has finally arrived," Fernandes said in an AirAsia news release on Monday.

"It's an awkward moment when you go down memory lane and recall the times I used to work for Richard. And it's hilarious to think now, that it's Richard who will be working for me as a sassy flight attendant."

Members of the public can purchase tickets for the flight for A$399 ($410) with A$100 of the fare going to Australian charity Starlight Children's Foundation.

Branson is no longer involved in Formula One with the Virgin team now competing as Marussia Racing, while Fernandes's team has since been renamed Caterham F1.

($1 = 0.9635 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)


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Friday 5 April 2013

Much more Rutgers teachers look for firings within trainer situation

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — The call from faculty members and politicians to oust top Rutgers University administrators grew louder, a day after men's basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for mistreating players, shoving them and berating them with gay slurs.

More than 50 faculty members signed a letter Thursday calling for the dismissal of Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and an explanation from President Robert Barchi for why he didn't fire Rice last year when he learned of a video showing Rice's behavior during practices.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney also called for Pernetti to step down or be fired. He said Pernetti deserves credit for getting Rutgers into the Big Ten conference but mishandled this situation.

"This incident will continue to hang over Rutgers like a dark cloud for weeks, months and perhaps years to come," the Democrat said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the number of faculty members calling for Barchi to step down more than doubled Thursday to 28.

The letter calling for Barchi's resignation was sent to the university's governing boards on Wednesday. In it, the faculty members cite Barchi's "inexcusable handling of coach Mike Rice's homophobic and misogynist abuse" of players, his "pattern of insensitivity and arrogance toward issues of diversity" and the "lack of transparency that he has exhibited in his relations" with faculty, staff and students.

It's unclear what effect the calls might have on the president or the athletic director. Neither was willing to be interviewed by The Associated Press. Barchi also skipped a town hall meeting he'd been scheduled to attend Thursday at Rutgers' Newark campus and declined to comment when he left his office. Members of the university's two governing boards have been mum.

Barchi, a neuroscience researcher before he became a university administrator, was hired a year ago and took office Sept. 1 to lead the university, which has 58,000 students and 13,000 faculty members on three campuses. He had been president of Thomas Jefferson University, a Philadelphia health sciences university, and before that was an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was brought to Rutgers as the university takes over two medical schools that are part of the separate University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The ongoing reconfiguration of the state's higher education system is intended to expand Rutgers' life-science research prowess, and Barchi was chosen largely to oversee that.

He had never been an administrator, though, at a school with athletic scholarships.

Over the past decade, Rutgers' athletic program has grown increasingly ambitious and expensive, largely as the university's football team transformed from an also-ran to a power in the Big East conference. The school's teams are set next year to join the more prestigious Big Ten, a move engineered largely by Pernetti, a former TV sports executive.

Shortly after Barchi took office, he told reporters that high-profile sports teams are an important way to increase the university's visibility but that he wanted to gradually reduce the university's operating subsidy for sports, currently about $8 million per year, while continuing to pay for scholarships for athletes at a cost of about $10 million annually.

Barchi said in a statement Wednesday that Pernetti told him last year about the video of Rice made by a former basketball program employee, but he said he did not watch the video until Tuesday, the day it was made public. A university spokesman declined to comment on why Barchi didn't watch the video last year.

In December, after the university consulted lawyers and commissioned an independent report on Rice's actions, Barchi said he agreed to suspend the coach for three games, fine him and order him to anger management counseling.

He said that when he saw the video, he realized that Rice needed to be removed.

The faculty members calling for Barchi to step down said in their letter that he knew enough to remove the coach months ago.

"Although President Barchi is now suggesting otherwise, he has known about Coach Rice's homophobic, misogynist and abusive behavior for several months now," the letter said.

Ron Becker, head of special collections and university archives at Rutgers, said he believes the handling of the situation needs to be reviewed.

"The value of sports and the Division I atmosphere often trumps some of the basic needs of the university," he said. "The pressure to win and succeed at athletics seems to trump (academics) around here."

The university's student government association also released a statement saying that Rice deserved to be fired. It said it intended to work with Barchi and Pernetti "to ensure that incidents like this never happen again."

While practically everyone who has spoken publicly about the case says it was right to fire Rice, two players in interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday defended the coach, saying the snippets of video were taken out of context.

"I feel if people had a chance to see the other portions of practice, or had been at practice, their judgment would not be as severe," sophomore forward Austin Johnson said. "I am not saying what he did wasn't wrong, because I do believe it was wrong. But it is also tough because it was a highlight reel of his worst moments."

Junior Wally Judge said Rice, who apologized Wednesday, has treated him well and helped him grow as a person and a basketball player.

There also was a defense of Pernetti. According to Newark's The Star-Ledger, an athletic department fundraiser emailed Rutgers boosters asking them to contact Barchi and the head of the university's board of governors to voice support of him. University spokesman Greg Trevor would not comment on whether the email was sanctioned by the author's superiors.

A Rutgers assistant coach has resigned amid the scandal. According to The Star-Ledger, the assistant, Jimmy Martelli, could be seen on the video shoving a player.

Martelli said in a statement he was "sickened that as an assistant coach I contributed in any way to an unacceptable culture," and he apologized to the players "from the bottom of my heart."

The Associated Press also obtained a letter Thursday from a lawyer for Eric Murdock, the former basketball program employee who gave the video to university officials and later ESPN. The letter to a lawyer for Rutgers, dated Dec. 27, said Murdock was fired for telling school officials about Rice's behavior and would accept $950,000 not to file a lawsuit against the school. The letter also complained that the university did not seem to investigate when Murdock first complained about Rice in July, when an interim president was in office.

Democratic state lawmakers, particularly Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, have been calling for legislative hearings on why Rice was not fired sooner, but none had been scheduled.

Keeping the coach on through the season cost the university a portion of his salary — he was paid $622,500 in 2012 — and a $100,000 bonus for coaching the final game of the year. Athletic department spokesman Jason Baum said the university is contractually obligated to pay the bonus, due this month.

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Delli Santi reported from Trenton. Also contributing to this report were AP reporters Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield and Katie Zezima in Newark and AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan.

 

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Wednesday 3 April 2013

Lance Armstrong searching for to create a sprinkle having a go back to competitors.

Lance Armstrong searching for to create a sprinkle having a go back to competitors.

The disgraced cyclist is signed up to swim three events this weekend at the Masters South Central Zone Swimming Championships at the University of Texas. Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins said Wednesday that Armstrong, 41, will compete in the 40-44 age group in the 500-, 1,000- and the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Rob Butcher, executive director of U.S. Masters Swimming, said the organization is not covered under the same anti-doping rules as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which banned Armstrong for life from its sanctioned events for his performance-enhancing drug use during his cycling career.

"Our mission, dating back to the 60s, is we encourage adults to swim," Butcher said. "Lance is a member of USMS so he is eligible to swim."

But the U.S. Master's Swimming web site suggests U.S. Masters Swimming falls under the umbrella of FINA, the international swimming federation, which is covered by the World Anti-Doping Code that bars Armstrong from competing. The web site portion covering rules links to the FINA Masters rules, which states FINA adopted the World Anti-Doping Code in 2007.

Butcher and Higgins did not immediately respond to emails Wednesday night seeking clarification.

U.S. Master's Swimming does not drug test. Butcher said earlier in the day U.S. Masters Swimming has debated in the past whether to start testing and whether Armstrong or other athletes who have been caught doping should be allowed to compete.

"We just stick to the fact that our purpose is encouraging adults to swim," Butcher said.

Armstrong had been pursuing a post-cycling career in triathlons before he was banned by USADA for performance-enhancing drug use. A message was left seeking comment from USADA.

Armstrong needed to use the actual Austin tx occasion through Mar thirty-one. Based on the fulfill occasion linens, Armstrong has got the second-best being qualified amount of time in the actual 1, 000 with no. three within the 1, 600 as well as five hundred.

 

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Tuesday 2 April 2013

Matsuyama in order to debut as pro in Nagoya this month

Top Japanese amateur Hideki Matsuyama will make his professional debut at this month's Token Homemate Cup, the 21-year-old golfer said on Tuesday.

"I had many top-10 finishes last year in professional competitions, and this gave me the confidence that I can make it," the 2010 and 2011 Asian amateur champion said in a statement.

"I want to become a player who can win around the world," added the golfer, whose 2011 Taiheiyo Masters triumph made him only the third amateur to win on the Japan Golf Tour.

The 130,000,000 yen ($1.39 million) Token Homemate Cup gets underway at Nagoya's Token Tado Country Club on April 18.

Currently ranked fourth among the amateurs, Matsuyama finished tied 27th to win the low amateur title at the 2011 U.S. Masters tournament and followed that up with a tied 54th finish 12 months later.

He will compete at the British Open at Muirfield in July after he came through the international qualifier in Asia last month.

 

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Monday 1 April 2013

Cal rallies to beat Georgia 65-62 in overtime

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Layshia Clarendon was the first to get her hands on the regional championship trophy. Rightfully so, after getting California somewhere they've never gone before: the Final Four.

Clarendon scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half and overtime, and California rallied from down 10 with less than 7 minutes left to beat Georgia 65-62 in the Spokane Regional final and advance to the national semifinals for the first time in school history.

Clarendon and the second-seeded Golden Bears became the first team from the western U.S. other than Stanford to reach the Final Four since Long Beach State in 1988. They did it with a gritty rally down the stretch and big shots by Clarendon, Afure Jemerigbe and Talia Caldwell.

During that 25-year span, eight different programs in the West have reached the regional finals. But whether it was Long Beach State, Washington, USC, UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Arizona State or Gonzaga, they all came up one game short — sometimes at the hands of Stanford — of advancing.

California, and second-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb, finally broke the string. Gottlieb threw her arms in the air when Shacobia Barbee's desperation half-court shot at the buzzer bounced off the backboard and wore a huge grin throughout the postgame celebration.

Jemerigbe finished with 14 and Caldwell added 10, with six coming in the final 3:30 of regulation and in overtime.

California (32-3) was the selection of President Obama when he filled out his NCAA women's tournament bracket. The Golden Bears proved him right.

Barbee led Georgia (28-7) with 14 points, but the Lady Bulldogs struggled down the stretch as California chipped away at the lead. It was just the third time this season Georgia lost after leading at halftime.

Georgia managed to force overtime despite going the final 7:45 of regulation with just one field goal. That came when Anne Marie Armstrong twice came up with offensive rebounds and scored underneath with 8.5 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session. Clarendon's 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.

Georgia played the final 2:20 of regulation and all of overtime without point guard Jasmine James after she fouled out picking up two quick fouls in less than 40 seconds.

James finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists before fouling out.

California trailed 49-39 with 6:46 left after Barbee hit a pair of free throws. The Bears got back into the game by halftime overcoming a horrible shooting start, but each run early in the second half was rebuffed by the Lady Bulldogs.

This time Cal had an answer. Jemerigbe hit her first 3-pointer after missing her previous six attempts. Clarendon scored four straight points and Caldwell scored in the paint. Caldwell then rebounded Jemerigbe's missed free throw and scored to pull Cal even at 50-all.

Tiaria Griffin missed a 3 for Georgia and Cal's Brittany Boyd was fouled driving to the rim by James, her fifth foul, leaving Georgia without its floor leader. Boyd hit both free throws and Cal had its first lead since 17-16.

Not having James on the floor showed immediately as Georgia turned it over on its next two possession, helped by a pair of blocked shots by Jemerigbe, the second with 51 seconds left. But the Bears' free throw struggles that nearly cost them in the second round against South Florida returned when Jemerigbe missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 with 27 seconds left. Griffin missed a 3 for Georgia, but Armstrong scored to force the extra session.

Georgia went up 55-52 when Khaalidah Miller hit a 3 to start overtime, but the Bears took command. Jemerigbe hit a 3-pointer with 2:48 left in overtime to give California a 59-55 lead and Clarendon later added a rebound putback for a 61-55 advantage with 1:26 remaining.

Barbee hit a pair of free throws with 1:03 left, but instead of fouling, Georgia chose to play defense. Clarendon made them pay, spinning away from Barbee and hitting a 15-footer with 37.9 seconds left for a 63-57 lead. Barbee scored with 15.6 seconds remaining, but Gray split a pair of free throws for Cal. Armstrong hit a 3 with 3.4 seconds left to get within 64-62, but Clarendon split free throws and Barbee's desperation shot was off.

Armstrong finished with 12 points, but Georgia leading scorer Jasmine Hassell was held to seven points. The loss ended Georgia coach Andy Landers' hope of reaching the Final Four for the first time since 1999. Georgia last reached the regional finals in 2004.


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Athletes, stars join Obama for Easter Egg Roll

The Easter Bunny, dozens of professional athletes and thousands of children were hippity-hopping across the White House's South Lawn Monday as President Barack Obama and his family were leading the annual Easter Egg Roll.

The theme of this year's event is "Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!" — fitting with first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to lower childhood obesity rates by encouraging physical activity. The president's basketball court was open for play, along with an obstacle course and yoga garden.

A dance party was set up at the "Hop To It Stage," and professional athletes and coaches were helping teach their sports in the "Eggtivity Zone." Among the stars scheduled to attend were Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, gymnast John Orozco and Washington Wizards point guard John Wall.

Two of the younger celebrities in Monday's lineup are Oscar-nominated actress Quvenzhane Wallis, star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and Robbie Novak, who plays "Kid President" in a series of popular YouTube videos. A track suit-clad Elmo and other "Sesame Street" Muppets performed and encouraged exercise.

The White House had warned more than 35,000 expected attendees that the 135-year tradition could have been cancelled because of budget battles with Congress this year. White House tours have been called off because of government-wide spending cuts, but the egg roll was not.

The National Park Service, which organizes the event, says it's largely funded by sales of commemorative wooden eggs, plus some private donations. The park service would not say how much the event costs.

The White House said 14,500 eggs were dyed for the egg roll and hunt, with another 4,500 hard-boiled eggs available for children to decorate. There are also special eggs that make a sound like a chirping bird so visually impaired children can participate in the hunt.

 

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