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Snooker: Ricky Walden (picture) sprinted into the International Championship final as he moved one step away from the biggest title of his career, yesterday. The world number 11 stands to win £125,000 if he carries off the title in Chengdu, and should benefit from having a day off as Mark Allen and Mark Williams cue off for the right to tackle him in tomorrow’s final. Walden brushed aside Robert Milkins 9-2 with a commanding performance. He notched breaks of 65, 107, 54, 87 and a match-clinching 74 as Milkins struggled to make any headway.
Baseball: Two people were shot, one was stabbed and around 40 were arrested as celebrations in San Francisco for the Giants victory in the World Series turned violent overnight, police said yesterday. A number of police officers were struck by bottles while responding to the mayhem and three were taken to local hospitals. Giants fans took to the streets after the team won their third championship in five years by beating Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 7 of the World Series.
Basketball: Former champions Panathinaikos and Real Madrid reaped the rewards of lethal three-point shooting as their guards’ long-range artillery lit up the third round of the Euroleague’s preliminary group stage on Thursday. The designated match of the week turned into one-way traffic as Panathinaikos hit 14 of their first 16 three-point attempts in a 91-73 rout of Fenerbahce, handing their former coach Zeljko Obradovic a sour homecoming. The trophy-laden Serb watched helplessly as A.J. Slaughter hit seven of 10 shots from behind the arc to lead the Greek side with 23 points. Real made light work of Russians Nizhny Novgorod with a 112-83 home drubbing thanks to American Jaycee Carroll, who netted 32 points after nailing seven of nine three-point attempts.
Cycling: Austria’s Matthias Braendle set a new one hour record of 51.85 kilometres this week, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Twitter. The 24-year-old, riding at the World Cycling Centre in the Swiss town of Aigle, beat Jens Voigt’s mark of 51.11 km which was set on Sept. 18 in nearby Grenchen. Braendle was ahead of Voigt’s mark by more than 50 seconds at the halfway point and managed to break the record despite a few wobbles in the last 10 minutes. “Things went well for the first 30 minutes, then in the middle of the race, it was really tough and I suffered,” he told Austrian media. “Fortunately, there were lots of people there to support me.”
Swimming: Swimming’s world governing body has defended a decision to award its highest honour to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying it had nothing to do with politics. FINA has been criticised over the timing of the decision with relations between Russia and the NATO alliance under strain, but the body’s executive director Cornel Marculescu told Reuters that the award was related only to sport. “Our constitution is very clear,” Marculescu said. “There is no discrimination for the political region or anything like that. Our award was only related to the sport, not with the rest.” FINA president Julio Maglione announced last month that Putin had been awarded the FINA Order for his role in bringing international swimming events to Russia.
Motor Racing: Formula One has had to modify its qualifying format after financial problems ruled the Caterham and Marussia teams out of the US Grand Prix this weekend while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel will be sidelined by an engine penalty. Stewards said that the slowest four cars in the first session today would play no further part in qualifying with the next slowest four also dropping out in the second phase. That will still leave 10 drivers fighting for pole position in the final phase. Previously, the slowest six dropped out in each of the first two sessions with the Caterham and Marussia cars usually in the initial group.