La Galaxy: David Beckham lived up to his star billing yesterday with a sparkling individual performance but could not prevent LA Galaxy slumping to their second friendly defeat in Australia. The ex-England captain narrowly missed with a free-kick and had a hand in Galaxy’s opener before Newcastle Jets grabbed a 2-1 win.
Marseille: French champions Marseille suffered a huge blow yesterday when highly promising Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta was ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee. The 21-year-old suffered the injury in the early stages of Marseille’s 4-0 league win over Montpellier.
Lyon: Lyon midfielder Yoann Gourcuff and defender Cris have been ruled out of today’s league clash at home to Paris Saint Germain. Gourcuff suffered a knock to his calf in the 3-0 Champions League defeat to Schalke in midweek and, according to club president Jean-Michel Aulas he could be ruled out for three weeks.
Stankovic: Dejan Stankovic has revealed his intention to finish his career at Inter even amid interest from abroad. The Serbia international midfielder has been linked with Schalke this week, but insists he is Inter through and through. “Italy was my first experience abroad and I hope that it will be my last,” he said.
Motorcycling: A Swiss motorcycle racer was killed and a second was in a critical condition after they collided on a circuit in Dubai. “Pascal Grosjean, 39, from Switzerland, had won the Sportbike Championship Race 1 and was completing a warm-down lap when he was hit from behind by another rider,” The National daily reported yesterday. Grosjean and Jordan were thrown from their bikes in the collision on Friday at the end of the race, a local event organised by the United Arab Emirates. Both men suffered multiple injuries and were rushed to the hospital before Grosjean died. Jordan remains in intensive care, the daily reported.
Rugby Union: New Zealand lock Ali Williams is to play for English second tier side Nottingham as he tries to regain fitness ahead of next year’s World Cup. In what is something of a coup for the Championship side Williams, who has won 61 Test caps, has been given clearance by the New Zealand Rugby Union to begin his return from an Achilles injury at the Midlands club. The 29-year-old has hardly played during the past two years but aims to appear for Nottingham in four of their five matches in January.
Ski Jumping: German former world number one Martin Schmitt yesterday revealed that he has reversed his decision to retire from ski jumping at the end of the season and intends to continue competing until 2012. “Initially, I’d set 2011 as the end of my career,” he told German daily Frankfurter Rundschau. “I now believe that I can keep jumping the season afterwards.”
Asian Games: An “extraordinary” Asian Games came to a close yesterdayafter 15 days of thrills and spills that saw China reinforce its sporting credentials and Japan slip further behind. On the last day of action at an Asiad unprecedented in size and scale, China fittingly won the last gold at stake when their women’s volleyball team toppled South Korea 3-2 in a thrilling finale. Zhou Chunxiu earlier added yet more gold to their glittering haul by defending her women’s marathon title with teammate Zhu Xiaolin taking silver and North Korea’s Kim Kum-Ok the bronze. South Korea’s Ji Youngjun won the men’s race.