IRAQ reached its first Asian Cup final last night, beating South Korea 4-3 on penalties in a pulsating semifinal that ended goalless after extra time. Noor Sabri was Iraq’s hero when he saved South Korea’s fourth spot-kick from Yeom Ki-hun. After Ahmed Menajed had made it 4-3 to the West Asians, South Korean Kim Jung-woo […]

ARSENAL midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg joined Premier League rival West Ham United on Monday for a fee that could rise to 3 million pounds (US$6.17 million). Sweden captain Ljungberg was the longest-serving player in the Arsenal squad after joining in 1998. The 30-year-old Sweden captain, who joined Arsenal in 1998 and played a major part in […]

CHINESE basketball superstar Yao Ming will join the national team in a Sept. 3 exhibition game against the Melbourne Tigers in Shenzhen’s Bao’an Stadium, local newspapers reported Wednesday. The average ticket will cost about 1,000 yuan (US$132), the Shenzhen Evening reported. The match will mark Yao’s return to the national squad after he sat out […]

Chinese gymnast Zhou Zhuoru performs on the balance beam on her way to win the gold medal of the women’s individual all-around competition at the 24th Universiade Bangkok 2007 in Thailand Aug. 11, 2007. Zhou won the title with a score of 60.200 points. (Xinhua Photo) BANGKOK, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — World champion Zhou Zhuoru […]

     BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — Organizers of next year’s Olympic Games have worked out contingency plans to deal with possible bad weather during the world’s prime sporting event, an official said.     “We have already had a scheme to cope with various weather conditions during the Games period,” Yang Shu’an, executive vice president of the […]

IRAQ’S Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira launched a furious tirade Tuesday against the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after his team was forced to wait six hours to get into their hotel. Vieira’s squad arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Bangkok late Monday after assurances from the AFC that their rooms at the swanky Prince Hotel would be […]

CHINA’S national basketball team beat the Australian Melbourne Tigers 84-78 in Macao on Wednesday night in a challenge as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympics training tour. NBA All-Star center Yao Ming top scored both sides with 25 points in his second match since returning from his honeymoon. Yao dominated making 11 out of his […]

Thai Asiad tennis champion Danai Udomchoke (File Photo) BANGKOK, Aug. 5, (Xinhua) — Despite the knee injury, Thai Asiad tennis champion Danai Udomchoke is confident in winning a gold in men’s singles of the 24th Universiade for the home crowd. “I’m quite confident in this competition,” said Udomchoke on Sunday at a press briefing. The […]

BANGKOK, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Chen Weiwei from China clinched the title of the women’s skeet with 94 hits in her international debut here on Saturday at the 24th Universiade. Chen led the qualification round with 71 hits out of 75 targets, one hit ahead of South Korea’s Kim Ae Kyun, and kept a cool […]

BANGKOK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — The Chinese women’s swimming team failed to clinch their first planned gold medal on the 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening-day competition in the pool at the Universiade here on Thursday. Trailing from the first 50 meters on third, China maintained the position until Xu Yanwei overtook the German last […]