Sports round-up

Basketball, NBA: The Boston Celtics signed swingman Mickael Pietrus after the former first-round pick from France cleared waivers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Pietrus is expected to fill a void left by the departure of Jeff Green, who is out for the season with a heart problem. “We are very excited to be able to add Mickael to our team,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “His skills as a perimeter defender and an outside shooter provide great versatility to the roster.”

Figure Skating: Japan’s two-time world figure skating champion Mao Asada has said she felt close to her mother as she overcame her recent death to win the national title and a berth in March’s world championships. “I think my mother is glad, too,” the 21-year-old told Japanese media after winning her fifth women’s title, her first in two years, at the national championships in Osaka. “I feel she is the closest to me. So I think she understands even if I don’t tell her anything.”

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Rugby Union: Former Australia coach Eddie Jones (picture) has been appointed head coach of Japan’s national rugby team to replace All Blacks legend John Kirwan, the Japan Rugby Football Union said yesterday. Jones, 51, took the Wallabies to the 2003 World Cup final and was technical adviser to South Africa when the Springboks won the 2007 World Cup in France. His wife is Japanese and he has been managing Japan’s Top League side Suntory Sungoliath since 2009.

Sports Awards: Two-time world high-jumping champion Blanka Vlasic and skiing world champion Ivica Kostelic have been named Croatia’s top athletes for 2011 by a vote of some 360 journalists. Vlasic, 28, won the silver medal at the world athletics championships in September with an effort of 2.03 metres in her second jump. Kostelic, 32, won the World Cup overall crown and the World Cup slalom title for 2010-2011 season. This is the fifth time Vlasic has won the top athlete title and is the third for Kostelic.

Horse Racing: Kauto Star won a record fifth King George VI Chase yesterday to cement his standing as the best chaser of his generation. Ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Paul Nicholls, Kauto Star jumped brilliantly to upstage Long Run, the even money favourite and the winner of the mid-winter showpiece last season. Again, Kauto Star proved that just days short of his 12th birthday he was still the king of national hunt racing.