Alpine Skiing: Swedish skiing star Anja Paerson confirmed yesterday she will retire after this week’s World Cup event in Schladming, Austria. Paerson made her debut in 1998 at the World Cup in Switzerland and went on to take 19 championship medals, 42 World Cup victories and two overall World Cup titles in 2004 and 2005. “All the spectacular crashes and drawn-out injuries in the past few years have affected my ability to perform at the top,” she said.
Swimming: Michael Phelps clocked the second-fastest 100m freestyle time in the world this year to cap a productive three days at USA Swimming’s Columbus Grand Prix. Phelps added the 100m free gold to the 200m free and 200m butterfly titles he claimed on Friday and Saturday with a time of 48.49 seconds. Only Australia’s James Magnusson, with a time of 48.05 seconds in January, has swum faster so far in a season geared toward the London Olym-pics that start in July.
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Golf: Justin Rose (picture) won the Cadillac Championship on Sunday, his two-under par 70 enough to overtake Bubba Watson on a day that saw Tiger Woods withdraw injured. Rose captured his 10th global title as his two-under round gave him a 16-under total of 272. However, he had to wait out Watson who still had a chance to force a play-off with a birdie at the 72nd hole. He fired out of the rough to inside 10 feet but didn’t make the putt. He finished with a 74 for 273, one shot in front of Rory McIlroy.
Basket, NBA: Kobe Bryant’s 26 points included a go-ahead basket with 41.7 seconds to play as Los Angeles Lakers beat Boston Celtics 97-94. Bryant scored 10 points in the final quarter, but it was Andrew Bynum who capped the 8-0 scoring run to close out the game. The Lakers had fallen behind by five points with less than three minutes remaining. But they held the Celtics scoreless and Bryant and Bynum scored four points apiece as Los Angeles won for the 18th time in 20 home games this season.
Cricket: England will remain the world’s top-ranked Test team after South Africa could only manage a draw in the opening Test of their New Zealand tour. England’s lead in the rankings was slashed to a single point after their 3-0 whitewash by Pakistan, giving the Proteas the chance to take the no.1 spot with a clean sweep in the three-Test series in New Zealand. The ICC said it was the first time that England had held the no.1 spot on the April 1 cut-off date and they would receive a $175,000 cheque for their achievement.
Tennis: Michael Llodra was slapped with a $2,500 fine for using a racial slur during his opening-round match against Ernests Gulbis at Indian Wells. The French player yelled at a Chinese female supporter of Gulbis during his 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 win over the Latvian last weekend. Officials said Llodra was also verbally abusive towards the ball-kids and their coordinator during the match.