Olympic champion Liu Zige trimmed 1.6 seconds off the world record in the women's 200-meter butterfly at China's National Games on Wednesday.

Liu was timed in 2 minutes, 1.81 seconds, domestic news agency Xinhua reported. She eclipsed the previous world mark of 2:03.41 set by Australian Jessicah Schipper at the swimming world championships in July.

Liu, who won the same event at the Beijing Olympics last year to clinch China's only swimming gold medal of the games, won Wednesday's race by almost four seconds ahead of Jiao Liuyang, the Olympic silver medalist.

Jenson Button may get all the attention — and the money — but an hour before the lights went green in São Paolo, Beth Tweddle was bouncing and tumbling her way to victory in the floor exercise at the world artistic gymnastics championships. Alas, the television sets in Downing Street were not tuned to BBC Two or else surely the same congratulations that were sent to Brazil would have found their way to the O2 in southeast London.

“I’ve not had a phone call yet from the Prime Minister,” Tweddle said yesterday. “Jenson Button got one, but I haven’t. I’m clearly not important enough.” She was mildly miffed, rather than moaning. Tony Blair didn’t ...]]> Sports Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:17:18 +0800 /articles/09/0930/192725/MTkyNzI13AvFFN55.html The star of the 2004 Athens Games is set to hand in her retirement form to Swimming Australia today. The 25-year-old struggled with motivational problems throughout her career and never reached the same heights following her superb week in Greece five years ago. Henry won the prized 100m freestyle title and anchored Australia to victory in the 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay in Athens. She also collected three gold medals at world championships and four gold medals at Commonwealth Games. Henry at one stage held the Olympic, world championship and Commonwealth crowns in the 100m freestyle. She missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of a pelvic complaint that hampered her preparations before the selection trials. Her retirement does not come as a surprise but along with Libby Trickett's decision to have a break from the sport, it highlights Australia's dwindling sprint stocks. AA...]]> Sports Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:03:55 +0800 /articles/09/0929/192605/MTkyNjA1orXWgoId.html Sports Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:02:07 +0800 /articles/09/0929/192540/MTkyNTQwLZVrAfmq.html Sports Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:02:32 +0800 /articles/09/0924/192049/MTkyMDQ5r616FTl3.html

Encouraged by progress in his recovery from major foot surgery, Yao Ming said Wednesday he will return to action — just not next season.

"The (X-ray) picture looks good. The bones heal well," he said in an interview with Houston television station KRIV.

He also said, however, that there is no chance that he will play in the 2009-10 NBA season.

"The answer is no. You don't want to rush it, because they want it to totally heal this time. I have been in this situation enough," he said.

The 7-foot-6 center underwent surgery in May to repair a hairline fracture in his left foot suffered late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The injury had raised questions, especially in his native China, about Yao's playing future.

With WNBA legend Lisa Leslie playing her final season, the script can't end with her exiting in the opening round of the playoffs, right?

The truth is the Storm didn't compensate with any kind of offense, which was more the reason why Seattle's season ended with a 75-64 loss to Los Angeles in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

It's the fifth straight season the Storm has dropped a first-round, best-of-three series. Three of those early exits have been against the Sparks..

The past two times the Storm was without two-time MVP Lauren Jackson, who underwent season-ending right ankle surgery after the Beijing Olympics last season and was out again this postseason, due to stress fractures in her lower back.

In a foul-laden second quarter, the Storm's final field goal was a layup by forward Camille Little with 7:45 remaining to cut Seattle's deficit to 26-19. The Sparks t...]]> Sports Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:59:12 +0800 /articles/09/0911/190714/MTkwNzE0IoczZz3I.html South Australian District Court judge Wayne Chivell declined to suspend the sentence today, saying parliament had increased the penalty for hit-and-run in 2006 to deter people from leaving the scene of the accident where someone had been injured. "Parliament has made it clear that the fundamental duty of a motorist who is involved in a collision is to stop immediately and render such assistance as is possible." The four-time Australian cross country mountain bike champion will serve a minimum of nine months before being eligible for parole. The 30-year-old was last month found guilty of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident in relation to the crash that severely injured 24-year-old Matthew Rex. Mr Rex's brother, Sam, said he was a passenger in Mr Jongewaard's car at the time of the ac...]]> Sports Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:43:32 +0800 /articles/09/0902/189817/MTg5ODE3muZFFCCy.html

The International Equestrian Federation has been advised to create an independent investigation unit to help clean up lingering drug problems in the sport.

The FEI should also review its drug-testing protocols, improve stables security at international events and be more professional by creating paid roles for officials, according to a report published Wednesday.

The governing body commissioned the ethics report from former London Metropolitan Police chief John Stevens, after a series of allegations about the German team's use of illegal drugs and medical treatments on its horses at the Beijing Olympics last year.

Stevens said his proposals would "provide clarity and improve governance and compliance issues."

"Everybody sees this as the biggest kind of change to this sport in its history," Stevens told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"There was an immense willingness to sort this out. It has been a bitter pill to swallow...]]> Sports Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:46:02 +0800 /articles/09/0821/188552/MTg4NTUyzNiFwgMh.html Sports Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:05:13 +0800 /articles/09/0818/188190/MTg4MTkwh6LO4hOL.html

President Ma Ying-jeou apologised again for the government's slow response to the emergency as he faced domestic and international media in separate news conferences to provide an update on relief efforts.

Ma warned that the death toll from Typhoon Morakot could climb to near 500, with hundreds feared buried, while 127 people are so far confirmed to have died in the disaster.

Amid mounting criticism, Ma said he would not resign when asked about calls for him to step down over his government's slow response to the typhoon, which struck on August 8.

"I will not run from my responsibilities," he said, adding he owed it to typhoon victims to steer the country through the crisis.

"I know there are areas to improve and, as the president, I have to shoulder the respo...]]> Sports Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:53:00 +0800 /articles/09/0818/188084/MTg4MDg0bTz3JyJA.html Her nickname might be “Tadpole” on the track and field but Jessica Ennis has just become a big fish in the Olympic pond.

With her heptathlon gold medal triumph at the World Championships on Sunday, the Sheffield athlete is set to make the leap from obscurity to Britain’s Olympic pin-up.

Marketing experts predict that the 23-year-old will become a millionaire by the 2012 Games and bookmakers are reporting a surge of bets on her becoming the next BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

“I had a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation from everyone,” said Ennis. “Luckily I was able to control that and deliver and that’s great practice for 2012 and hopefully I can do the same there.”

About all this guy can't do is fly. And by saving his celebration until after the finish line this time, he showed how fast a man really can go on two feet.

The Jamaican shattered the world record again Sunday, running 100 meters in 9.58 seconds at the world championships to turn his much-anticipated race against Tyson Gay into a one-man show.

That was 0.11 seconds faster than the mark he set last year at the Beijing Olympics - the biggest improvement in the 100-meter record since electronic timing began in 1968.

Gay, his closest rival, broke the American mark with his 9.71 performance and still looked like he was jogging - finishing a few big strides behind Bolt in second place.

Bolt's only competition these days is the clock.

And when he's really trying, not hot-dogging it over the line t...]]> Sports Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:16:26 +0800 /articles/09/0808/187093/MTg3MDkzBAT2hC4n.html Sports Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:42:50 +0800 /articles/09/0802/186419/MTg2NDE57vqjWzN7.html But Freddy Mercardo didn't do a single day in jail for his swindle - and he's already back in trouble, with another fitness buff telling cops she was taken for a pricey ride.

Mercardo spun quite a fantasy for members of Equinox, the New York Health & Racquet Club, and Club H Fitness.

He claimed to be a professional cyclist who rode for Ecuador in the Beijing Olympics - while he really grew up in the Bronx and didn't even use a bike to get around town, victims and an acquaintance said.

He talked faster than Lance Armstrong pedals, allegedly taking in one woman who worked as a nanny for wealthy celebrities and stealing thousands from another.

"He said he was training for the Olympics. I had never met an Olympic athlete before. He talked about how he came from a wealthy South American family and was racing in China," said Gretchen Regan, 58, a craniosacral therapist who met him at Equinox.

Regan, a former model, said she ...]]> Sports Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:40:20 +0800 /articles/09/0723/185136/MTg1MTM29ihVj78A.html

Sport's highest court extended doping bans until April 2011 for seven Russian athletes who tampered with urine samples, ensuring they will miss next month's world championships in Berlin.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the IAAF's appeal for longer suspensions for middle-distance runners Olga Yegorova, Tatyana Tomashova, Yelena Soboleva, Yulia Fomenko and Svetlana Cherkasova, plus field athletes Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and Darya Pishchalnikova.

In its ruling Wednesday, the court said the seven women appeared to have been involved in a "fraudulent manipulation" of their samples.

The International Association of Athletics Federations provisionally suspended the women last July — days before the Beijing Olympics — following an undercover investigation.

Russia's athletics federation angered the world governing body by applying standard 2-year bans backdated to start in spring 2007, when the samples were given. That would have cle...]]> Sports Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:35:31 +0800 /articles/09/0722/185038/MTg1MDM47C6nBDH2.html

Rockets center Yao Ming had surgery Tuesday to repair a broken bone in his left foot.

The team announced the surgery was performed at Memorial Hermann Hospital by Dr. Tom Clanton, the Rockets' team physician, along with Dr. Bill McGarvey.

Surgeons grafted bone onto the tarsal navicular bone and realigned his foot to reduce stress on the repair. The seven-time All-Star is slated to remain in the hospital for several days.

"Everything went according to play, and we were able to achieve not only fixation of the broken bone but also realignment of the bones to improve the stress pattern on his foot," Dr. Clanton said in the statement. "We expect him to be immobilized in a cast and using crutches for at least 6-8 weeks."

Yao is expected to miss the 2009-10 season, but be ready to go for training camp in 2010.

Yao suffered the hairline fracture late in a May 8 playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets said late last month that...]]> Sports Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:24:10 +0800 /articles/09/0718/184550/MTg0NTUwSG4HMzAh.html

Rockets center Yao Ming will have surgery on his broken left foot next week and the team says he may not be available until the training camp before the 2010-11 season.

The Rockets say the 7-foot-6 Yao chose a surgery that will involve a bone graft to promote bone regeneration. He's also hoping to reduce the arch in the foot by realigning and restructuring the bones.

The Minnesota Timberwolves cannot do much financially to help Ricky Rubio with a multimillion-dollar buyout of his contract with DKV Joventut in Spain.

So team president David Kahn is heading across the Atlantic to meet with the team personally in hopes of lowering the $6.6 million price tag that has threatened to keep the wunderkind point guard in Europe for at least next season.

Kahn confirmed his plans to travel to Spain in a text message to The Associated Press on Thursday, but declined further comment, including when the trip will take place. It was first reported by YahooSports.com.

Rubio, who was drafted fifth overall by the Timberwolves in June, is still under contract with Joventut for the next two seasons. After helping Spain to a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics and playing in the Spanish ACB since the tender age of 14, the 18-year-old is ready to test his skills in the NBA.

The one thing holding him back appears to be money. Ru...]]> Sports Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:18:00 +0800 /articles/09/0714/183966/MTgzOTY2QMKQsXca.html Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group has said that it will build north China's largest milk powder factory in Tianjin, marking its first expansion after being hit hard by last year's tainted infant formula scandal. The plant to be located in the city's Binghai new area will initially cost ¥300 million and is expected to earn ¥2 billion when operational. The dairy giant that sponsored the Beijing Olympics netted ¥113.3 million (up 103.6% from a year earlier) from ¥5.1 billion in revenue (up 7.9%) over the first quarter of 2009. It reported an almost ¥1.7 billion loss for 2008.

$1 = ¥6.8

Source: http://www.cs.com.cn/xwzx/05/200907/t20090712_2148013.htm

The Houston Rockets are still hoping Yao Ming returns next season, but they have been able to cash in on his injury.

The Rockets applied for a disabled player exception from the NBA a few weeks ago, betting that their All-Star center will miss next season with a hairline fracture in his left foot.

"I've won the Olympic 10m platform," he said. "I've achieved thehighest there is to achieve in that, and now I want to go beyondthat. Now I am thinking, 'How do I set the bar higher?' I can tryand do it in other events as well. I'm going to try and do it [wingold] in both events [the 10m platform and the springboard]."

On the eve of the Beijing Olympics last year, Mitcham read theautobiography of diving great Greg Louganis, which inspired him tostart pushing his limits. Louganis won back-to-back Olympic titlesin both the springboard and 10m diving events at the 1980 Moscowand 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, a feat Mitcham wants to emulate inLondon in 2012.

...]]> Sports Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:43:42 +0800 /articles/09/0628/181902/MTgxOTAyI9cZefyn.html

Kuznetsova won her second grand slam at Roland Garros 21 days ago, but that triumph in Paris must already seem a lifetime away as unseeded 19-year-old German Sabine Lisicki defeated the No.5 seed 6-2 7-5. While the Russian was enduring a 24th birthday to forget, No.6 seed Jankovic was also on the wrong end of a shock result as American qualifier Melanie Oudin, 17, beat the injury-hit Serb 6-7 7-5 6-2. Two star names to progress were defending champion Venus Williams, a 6-0 6-4 winner over Carla Suarez Navarro, and world No.1 Dinara Safina, who defeated Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-1. Williams' victory avenged her second-round defeat by the Spaniard at the Australian Open where she held a 5-2 lead in the final set. The No.3 seed, made amends in clinical fashion to keep alive her bid to become the first wo...]]> Sports Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:11:08 +0800 /articles/09/0324/179083/MTc5MDgzLibQ8TJZ.html LOS ANGELES — The World Baseball Classic belongs to Japan.

Again.

Mariners standout Ichiro hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, and Japan beat reigning Olympic champion Korea 5-3 Monday night to win its second consecutive WBC title before a boisterous crowd of 54,846 at Dodger Stadium.

Japan won the inaugural tournament three years ago, beating Cuba 10-6 in the final at Petco Park in San Diego.

Korea had tied the score at 3 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Bum Ho Lee's run-scoring single off Japanese closer Yu Darvish (2-1), who got in trouble by issuing one-out walks to Hyun-Soo Kim and Tae Kyun Kim, the 3-4 hitters in the lineup.

Darvish struck out Shin-Soo Choo, a former Mariner, before Lee lined a 1-1 pitch into left field, with pinch runner Jong Wook Lee scoring easily from second.

Ichiro managed to foul off a pitch after it had bounced and lined the eighth pitch of the at-bat from C...]]> Sports Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:12:02 +0800 /articles/09/0319/178577/MTc4NTc3oeU6lFR4.html "The great thing about this is that you won’t otherwise see this level of play in North America," says event producer John Rocha, of Rocha Taner Results.

The Standing Committee of the annual National People's Congress, which approves policies and laws proposed by the ruling Communist Party, said the new law would help ensure food safety "from the production line to dining table."

The law provides for a new monitoring and supervision system, a set of national standards, a recall system and "severe punishment for offenders," the government's official Xinhua news agency reported.

The approval of the law follows "a spate of food scandals," the agency said.

In the biggest recent scandal, two men were sentenced to death and four others to life in prison last month for their involvement in the production of melamine-tainted milk that caused the death of six infants and sickened almost 300,000.

The milk powder scandal was hushed up for several months during last y...]]> Sports Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:00:43 +0800 /articles/09/0219/175059/qjashLIs.html Sports Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:10:59 +0800 /articles/09/0218/174975/MTc0OTc1710WQ19B.html Sports Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:47:42 +0800 /articles/09/0217/174822/MTc0ODIyA1MypyBP.html Sports Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:09:35 +0800 /articles/09/0211/174059/MTc0MDU5Qm49uKFK.html
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]]> Sports Mon, 09 Feb 2009 02:38:18 +0800 /articles/09/0202/172822/MTcyODIy0dwF7QFm.html Sports Sun, 01 Feb 2009 18:30:10 +0800 /articles/09/0124/172142/MTcyMTQyRipMfQQu.html
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming (L) of China moves to the basket defended by Indiana Pacers forward Troy Murphy during the second quarter of their NBA basketball game in Indianapolis January 23, 2009. Indiana won 107-102.]]> Sports Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:36:24 +0800 /articles/09/0122/171892/MTcxODky6CZgYIL1.html
Houston Rockets' Chinese center Yao Ming (R) blocks a shot by Utah Jazz C.J. Miles in Houston, Texas on Wednesday, January 21, 2009.]]> Sports Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:18:39 +0800 /articles/09/0119/171310/MTcxMzEwoFbQYZ0o.html
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"The dogs have the ability to detect the the smell with 100 percent accuracy," Yan Haiqun, vice head of Beijing Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, was quoted as saying.

"Labrador retrievers are meek and friendly to people. Their noses are enormously accurate."

The dogs, named Weite and Haige and bathed before boarding, manned a flight from the United Arab Emirates on Monday "to sniff every corner where passengers might have passed" after they left the cabin in Beijing, the report said.

It did not explain why they the dogs had to wear shoes.

Sniffing dogs ha...]]> Sports Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:52:36 +0800 /articles/09/0114/170682/MTcwNjgyuqHg5Hzj.html Sports Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:03:48 +0800 /articles/09/0113/170554/MTcwNTU0fuTVBiEL.html
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