Sports Awards: Olympic gold medallists Sandra Perkovic (picture) and Giovanni Cernogoraz were crowned female and male Croatian sportspeople of the year yesterday after a vote by 380 journalists. It is the first time they have won the award. Perkovic, 22 and a two-time European champion who served a six-month doping ban in 2011, won gold in London with a throw of 69.11 metres, a national record. Cernogoraz, 29, won the men’s trap shooting title.
Cricket: Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar yesterday announced his retirement from international one-day cricket after scoring a record-breaking 49 centuries in the 50-over format. The 39-year-old is the world’s top run-getter in one-day cricket, with 18,426 runs from 463 matches at an average of 44.83. “I have decided to retire from the one-day format of the game,” he said. “I feel blessed to have fulfilled the dream of being part of a World Cup winning Indian team.”
Rugby Union: Bayonne forward Francois Carrillo’s condition was improving yesterday after he was hospitalised following what appeared to be a heart problem in the warm-up before Saturday’s with Mont-de-Marsan. The 24-year-old – who is a squad member and rarely first choice – collapsed after taking the ball at a line out a few minutes before the end of the warm-up session, an AFP journalist witnessed. A heart specialist team gave Carrillo cardiac massage before the player was taken to hospital.
Motor Racing: Bridgestone Americas’ Firestone tyre brand will remain to sole supplier for IndyCar through the 2018 season, the US-based open-wheel racing series announced. Firestone, which has supplied tyres for the series since its 1996 debut, also will remain the official tire of the Indianapolis 500, ensuring the deal runs through the 100th running of the annual oval classic in 2016. “We are excited about the opportunity to continue the ongoing success of this series by extending the Firestone brand’s history in the sport through the 2018 season,” said Firestone Racing executive director Al Speyer.
Basketball, NBA: Greece’s Fotis Katsikaris is set to become coach of the Russian men’s basketball team and will share coaching duties with his current job at Spanish club Bilbao Berri. “It was his decision to do both jobs,” president of the Russian basketball federation (RBF) Alexander Krasnenkov told reporters yesterday. Katsikaris, 45, is expected to sign a contract with Russia until the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro when he is approved by the RBF’s executive board today. He replaces American-born Israeli David Blatt, who quit as Russian men’s coach in October after guiding them to the Olympic bronze medal in London.
Sochi Olympics: A moderate earthquake rocked an area around the Black Sea yesterday, sending residents of the Russian city Sochi into the streets, Russian news agencies reported. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which had a magnitude of 5.8, according to the US Geological Survey. The USGS said the epicentre was located in the Black Sea, 46 kilometres (about 30 miles) from the coast of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia which neighbours Russia. The Interfax news agency said the quake was strongly felt in the Black Sea city of Sochi, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2014.