American Football: The Jacksonville Jaguars have made a four-year commitment to be the “home” team in the NFL’s International Series games hosted in London starting from next season. The Jaguars will play a game at Wembley each year from 2013 to 2016 against opponents yet to be named. The announcement comes a little over a week since St Louis Rams pulled out of their own commitment to be the home team in 2013 and 2014. The Rams will play the New England Patriots in this year’s game on October 23.
Rugby Union: World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry will join the Auckland Blues as a technical advisor to help the Super 15 franchise rebuild after a disap-pointing season. The Blues said Henry would work with new head coach John Kirwan, who replaced Pat Lam after the three-times champions finished 12th on the ladder with 12 losses and four wins. Henry, who stepped down as All Blacks coach after guiding the team to victory in the 2011 World Cup, was in charge of the Blues from 1996-98.
Badminton: South Korean badminton authorities yesterday reduced bans for four players accused of trying to lose matches at the London Olympics from two years to six months after an appeal. Jung Kyung-Eun, Kim Ha-Na, Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung will not be able to play domestic and international competitions during that time.
Basketball: Chris Paul, the NBA All-Star point guard who helped the US win basketball gold at the London Olympics, had suc-cessful surgery on his injured right thumb, Los Angeles Clip-pers said. Paul tore a ligament in the thumb at a Team USA training camp in Las Vegas last month as the Americans prepared for the London Games. Paul is expected to be sidelined for approximately eight weeks.
Boxing: World heavyweight champion Vladimir Klitschko will defend his WBO, IBF and WBA belts against Poland’s Mariusz Wach in Hamburg on November 10. The 36-year-old Klitschko faces his 23rd world title fight against the undefeated Wach four months after the champion’s sixth-round knock-out of US boxer Tony Thompson in Basel. At 2.02 metres tall with a reach of 2.08m, Krakow-born Wach is four centimetres taller than Klitschko.