Football – UEFA wants
five-referee system at Euro 2012
UEFA wants to play its marquee European Championship tournament in 2012 with an experimental system of five match officials. UEFA’s executive committee says it will ask again for permission from FIFA’s rules-making panel. The panel, known as IFAB, limited five-referee trials to club football in July when it approved the system for UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League competitions until 2012. IFAB is next scheduled to meet in March. UEFA President Michel Platini is credited with the idea of placing an additional assistant beside each goal to help referees make decisions in the penalty box. Platini believes the system can head off calls to use video technology. Euro 2012 will be played in Poland and Ukraine.
Football – Brown quits as
manager of Scottish side Motherwell
Craig Brown has quit as manager of Motherwell and could take over at fellow Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen. Motherwell says Brown’s assistant, Archie Knox, has followed the former Scotland manager out of Fir Park. In a statement, Motherwell says it is “surprised and disappointed” by the decision of its management team to resign but adds “it is not in our ethos as a club to stand in anyone’s way that wanted to be somewhere else.” Motherwell says Aberdeen, which has been without a manager since firing Mark McGhee on 1 December, has made a “wholly inappropriate” approach to speak to Brown and Knox that was “in clear breach of SPL rules.” Motherwell is fifth and Aberdeen is 11th in the 12-team Premier League.
Cricket – Strauss, Collingwood
to share England captaincies
England has named two captains for its series of shortened matches against Australia - Andrew Strauss for the seven-match one-day series and Paul Collingwood for the two Twenty20 matches. The England and Wales Cricket Board said yesterday that Warwickshire bowler Chris Woakes was the only uncapped player named in the squad and he will be joined by Craig Kieswetter for the Twenty20 series only. England national selector Geoff Miller said that while England remained focussed on winning the Ashes - it leads the five-test series 1-0 after two tests - “we are excited by the prospect of taking on Australia in the limited-overs format.” “We believe we’ve picked a well-balanced squad to cover both the two Twenty20 matches and the ensuing seven-match ODI series against Australia,” Miller said. “This series will be the ideal lead up to the ICC World Cup which immediately follows the tour of Australia.”
Boxing – Adamek stops
Maddalone in 5 rounds
Top heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek of Poland successfully defended his IBF International Heavyweight championship when he stopped Vinny Maddalone in the fifth round on Thursday. Adamek (43-1, 28 knockouts) dominated the fight from the outset, but he put the challenger away with a series of hard punches in the fifth round. He floored Maddalone (33-7) with a hard left uppercut, but Maddalone survived the count and got to his feet. But sensing Maddalone was in trouble, Adamek kept the pressure on and unleashed a host of undefended punches with both hands that forced Maddalone’s corner to signal to referee Steve Smoger to stop the fight at the 2:17 mark of the fifth round. “I have more balance now and I can throw that punch,” Adamek said of the left hook that floored Maddalone. “I felt he was going down, but he got back up. I thought maybe I could hit him a few more times and he would go down again. I watched the referee and then they stopped it.” The win enabled the native him to continue his quest toward a possible heavyweight championship fight against either of the Klitschko brothers, Vitaly or Vladimir, who both own a share of the world heavyweight crown.
Tennis – Henin-Clijsters considering 2012 Olympic doubles
Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin are considering playing doubles together at the 2012 London Olympics. The Belgian stars said at a joint press conference they are open to the idea but need to overcome scheduling difficulties. “Obviously for the Olympics, it would be beautiful,” US Open champion Clijsters said, adding 2012 could also be her last full competitive season. “It would be nice to go out in such a way.” Clijsters has never competed at the Olympics while Henin won the 2004 Olympic singles gold in Athens. The pair have admitted in the past they are not close friends, but before their exhibition match on Thursday, Henin said they were keen to compete as a pair in 2012. “There is a real willingness to be there. We can already think about it. Everything is open to consider this,” Henin said as she prepared to play a match for the first time since injuring her elbow at Wimbledon. Clijsters won the exhibition match in a super tiebreak 10-5 after she won the first set 6-1 and Henin the second 6-3.
Football-Bayern striker Gomez to miss St Pauli match
Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez will miss playing St Pauli in the Bundesliga today because of a cold. Gomez is Bayern’s best scorer with nine goals in the league. Coach Louis van Gaal said Miroslav Klose is back in the squad after recovering from a torn hamstring but will not play. Van Gaal says Klose is not yet fit enough for a full game. The coach did not say who would play instead of Gomez.
Yesterday’s football results
BOV League Division III
Fgura U-Gozo 1-1
Pembroke A-Kirkop U 1-1