SPORTS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Wallabies players suspended Serbia left Ferrari in the Boxer Haye advised to retire MURRAYFIELD: Australia have suspended six players for one match and sanctioned another garage, says Stepanek LONDON: Former world heavyweight champion David Haye has been advised by doctors to nine for “breaches of internal team protocols” following a drinking session in the days leading up consider retiring after undergoing shoulder surgery, the Briton said on Sunday. to Saturday’s test against Ireland, the team said. BELGRADE: Serbia’s decision to leave Novak Djokovic out of the dou- Haye underwent five hours of surgery in Germany on Thursday to reconstruct his right “Everyone in our squad is required to comply with and adhere to high standards of ethical bles rubber of their Davis Cup final against Czech Republic was “like shoulder and was advised to think about ending his 11-year professional boxing career. conduct both on and off the field,” coach Ewen McKenzie said in a Wallabies statement yesterday. leaving a Ferrari in the garage”, victorious opponent Radek Stepanek Haye, 33, had been due to box compatriot Tyson Fury in a rearranged bout on Feb. 8, said on Sunday. “Those standards were compromised in the lead-up to Saturday’s victory over Ireland with a 2014, in Manchester, but he has cancelled the fight for a second time. The Czechs wrapped up a 3-2 win to retain their title thanks to group of players making the decision to stay out late and consume inappropriate levels of alcohol The bout had been originally scheduled for Sept. 28 but was called off after Haye cut his Stepanek’s crushing straight-sets demolition of the inexperienced left eyebrow in sparring. “I genuinely believed the shoulder injury wasn’t that bad,” Haye said during the early hours of Wednesday morning.” Wingers Adam Ashley Dusan Lajovic in the decisive rubber. The match, however, hinged on Cooper and Nick Cummins, front-rowers Tatafu Polota-Nau and Benn in a statement on his website (www.hayemaker.com). the outcome of the doubles with Djokovic winning both his singles “But the doctor sent me for a detailed MRI scan and within 24 hours I was Robinson, and backrower Liam Gill have been stood down for Saturday’s ties and Stepanek, along with stand-in captain Vladimir Safarik, said told the full extent of the damage. Twenty-four hours after that I was in the test with Scotland at Murrayfield. Front-rower Paddy Ryan has also been they were surprised the world number two was rested. operating theatre. “It’s a crushing blow for me. I had big plans for next year given a one-game ban, but will serve his suspension in the Wallabies’ “We expected him to play but that was their decision and we just and the ultimate goal was to win back the world heavyweight title, some- final tour match, against Wales in Cardiff on Nov. 30, because interna- focused on beating whoever was on the other side of the net,” Safarik, thing my amazing fans deserve. “What I didn’t anticipate was that this year tional regulations state all squads must contain at least four props. deputising for the ill Jaroslav Navratil, told a news conference. would be the unluckiest of my career and that a number of injuries would Australia have only five in their touring party of 32. McKenzie gave writ- In Djokovic’s absence, Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek disrupt my plans so much. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be. The boxing ten disciplinary warnings to Dave Dennis, Kane Douglas, Saia Fainga’a, romped to a 6-2 6-4 7-6(4) win over Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac Gods keep hinting that maybe enough is enough and that it’s time to Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps, while Scott Fardy, Mike Harris, Ben to take a 2-1 lead heading into the final day. finally hang up my gloves.” Haye, who lost his WBA belt in 2011 to McCalman and Nic White received verbal warnings. “Let’s be clear — these Serbia were already weakened after losing Janko Tipsarevic to a Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko, called off his previous planned fight are internal sanctions and aren’t a result of any complaints or reports of foot injury and Viktor Troicki who was banned for missing a blood test against Germany’s Manuel Charr in June when he suffered a inappropriate or sinister behaviour while our players were out,” said in April. “We only had so many fit and eligible players to choose from hand injury. “The surgery and subsequent results are a bitter McKenzie, whose team beat Ireland 32-15. “Instead, we have and although I must take responsibility for the outcome as the deci- pill to swallow because I truly felt I had a lot more to offer and chosen to address an issue that has come up internally and sion maker, I have no regrets about the team selection in any of the was looking forward to paying back my loyal fans with some we are now being up-front about it. —Reuters rubbers,” Serbia captain Bogdan Obradovic said. —Reuters great fights in 2014,” he added. —Reuters Kings march past Rangers

NEW YORK: Ben Scrivens made 37 saves in his second consecutive shutout and Tyler Toffoli’s second-period goal held up as the winner as the Los Angeles Kings completed a successful Eastern road trip with a 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday. Dominic Moore thought he tied it with 2:41 remaining, but the goal was disallowed because he kicked it in with his right skate. Scrivens, filling in for injured regular Jonathan Quick, followed up a blanking of New Jersey on Friday with one against the Rangers. Los Angeles went 3-0-1 on the trip, winning the final three games. Scrivens has gone 155 minutes, 2 seconds without allowing a goal over three games. Los Angeles is 5-0-1 in its last six. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots in the hard-luck loss. The Rangers, 7-3 in their last 10, failed to follow up on a 1-0 win at Montreal on Saturday and dropped their second straight at home.

BLACKHAWKS 5, SHARKS 1 Patrick Sharp scored two goals, including one on a third-period penalty shot, and Kris Versteeg had a goal and an assist to lead Chicago over San Jose. Jonathan Toews and rookie Brandon Pirri also scored for the Blackhawks, who rebounded with a tidy defensive effort following a 7-2 loss in Nashville on Saturday. Joe Pavelski connected for San Jose. Versteeg scored his first goal with the Blackhawks since being reacquired from Florida NEW YORK: Ben Scrivens No. 54 of the Los Angeles Kings tends net against the New York on Thursday. Corey Crawford stopped 23 shots Rangers at Madison Square Garden. — AFP and wasn’t heavily tested in the win. winner with 3:12 remaining, as Minnesota STARS 2, CANUCKS 1 CAPITALS 4, BLUES 1 extended its winning streak to four games by Kari Lehtonen made 42 saves to help Dallas Alex Ovechkin won the head-to-head beating Winnipeg. Josh Harding made 21 saves edge Vancouver. Valeri Nichushkin and Erik Cole matchup between the NHL’s two leading goal for his 12th victory. scored for Dallas (11-7-2), which came off a 7-3 AUSTRALIA: England Ashes Test cricketer Kevin Pietersen plays a shot in this file scorers, getting a pair in the first period to move The Wild have an eight-game point streak (7- victory over Calgary on Thursday and extended photo. —AFP into a tie with Alexander Steen in Washington’s 0-1) and pulled into second place, two points its road winning streak to six games. Henrik win over St. Louis. behind Chicago, in the Central Division. They Sedin scored for Vancouver (11-8-3), which got Confident England eye Ovechkin’s 16th and 17th goals led the also extended their home winning streak to six 21 saves from Roberto Luongo but dropped its Capitals to their third straight win and seventh in and are 10-1-2 at home. fourth in a row. fourth Ashes title in row nine games. Mikhail Grabovski and John Carlson The Jets had a four-game winning streak After Lehtonen kept Vancouver off the score- also scored for Washington, Nicklas Backstrom snapped. Koivu doubled his goal total for the board in the second period in which Vancouver had three assists, and Braden Holtby made 46 season. Zach Parise earned an assist and has 13 held a 20-6 edge in shots, Cole made it 2-0 early SYDNEY: The second leg of an Ashes dou- unlikely to last the full five tests so Australia saves. points in his past 12 games. in the third. — AP ble-header unique in the 131 years of such will be hoping the recuperation of James Ovechkin and Steen are two of the NHL’s contests gets underway in Brisbane on Pattinson and Jackson Bird continues to go hottest forwards playing for two of the league’s Thursday with everything bar the eternal well. hottest teams, but the Capitals cruised after NHL results/standings optimism of the Australian nation pointing Another gamble was on the uncapped dominating early, scoring on three of their first to a fourth successive England triumph. George Bailey for the vacant number six six shots against Jaroslav Halak. With the dominant 3-0 success on home batting spot and while the 31-year-old Vladimir Sobotka scored in the second period Columbus 4, Ottawa 1; Washington 4, St. Louis 1; Los Angeles 1, NY Rangers 0; soil still fresh in the memory, England can does not have great red ball pedigree, he for the Blues, who had won eight of 10. St. Louis Chicago 5, San Jose 1; Minnesota 2, Winnipeg 1; Dallas 2, Vancouver 1. justifiably approach a trip Down Under has shown a remarkable ability to step for was playing for the third time in four nights, with more confidence than at any time his country in Twenty20 and one-day inter- including a back-to-back after a home win over Western Conference Eastern Conference since the 1970s, when World Series cricket nationals. Carolina. The Blues took a season-high 47 shots Pacific Division Atlantic Division tore the heart out of the home side. All-rounder Shane Watson’s talent is in compared to 20 for the Capitals. WLOTLGFGAPTS Tampa Bay 14 6 0 64 50 28 The core of an England side unbeaten in no doubt but a hamstring injury has dis- Boston 12 6 1 53 36 25 Anaheim 15 5 2 71 56 32 tests this year has very happy memories of rupted his preparations and the decision BLUE JACKETS 4, SENATORS 1 Toronto 12 7 1 57 47 25 San Jose 13 3 5 72 50 31 Detroit 9 5 7 54 60 25 their last trip in 2010-11, when they ham- over whether he will be able to bowl in the Ryan Johansen, RJ Umberger and Fedor Montreal 10 9 2 52 45 22 mered Australia 3-1 to win the Ashes on first test is likely to be taken on the first Tyutin each had a power-play goal to lead Phoenix 14 4 3 73 66 31 foreign soil for the first time in 24 years. morning at the Gabba. Los Angeles 14 6 1 58 46 29 Ottawa 8 8 4 58 62 20 Columbus over Ottawa. Derek MacKenzie also Florida 5 12 4 46 70 14 That feeling has been compounded by the Despite those small flies in the oint- scored for Columbus (7-10-3), and Sergei Vancouver 11 8 3 56 58 25 Buffalo 5 16 1 41 68 11 conviction that they won in England with ment, Australia captain Michael Clarke has Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots. Calgary 6 11 3 54 75 15 Metropolitan Division something to spare and their vaunted bat- been trumpeting the new optimism like a Erik Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Edmonton 5 15 2 53 83 12 Washington 12 8 1 69 59 25 ting line-up can only do better than they politician on the campaign trail. Senators (8-8-4) in the third period. Craig Central Division Pittsburgh 12 8 0 56 47 24 did in the five home tests. “I think the team is in a fantastic place Anderson made 18 saves. The ugly game got NY Rangers 10 10 0 42 50 20 “I think Australia will suit our batsmen a and the feeling in the group is outstand- even uglier after Ottawa’s Mark Borowiecki Chicago 14 3 4 78 61 32 Carolina 8 8 4 39 55 20 bit more than English conditions,” England ing,” he said in Sydney last week. “I think the caught Jared Boll with his head down in the Minnesota 13 4 4 55 44 30 New Jersey 7 8 5 42 49 19 paceman Stuart Broad said last week. boys are flying. They’re all looking forward third. James Wisniewski quickly came to his St. Louis 13 3 3 66 46 29 NY Islanders 8 10 3 61 68 19 “We had these sort of slow, turning to Thursday week.” teammate’s defense and fought Borowiecki. The Colorado 14 5 0 59 41 28 Columbus 7 10 3 52 57 17 Philadelphia 7 10 2 35 48 16 wickets that are quite hard to score on and The Australian weather means England’s two were tossed from the game. Dallas 11 7 2 58 56 24 we’ve got guys who cut and pull, free-scor- preparations have not been perfect but, Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one Winnipeg 10 10 2 57 61 22 ing players, and I think our batsmen are apart from a calf injury to wicketkeeper WILD 2, JETS 1 point in the standings and are not Nashville 9 9 2 46 63 20 very excited to play here and will thrive in Matt Prior, they have not seen much to Mikko Koivu scored two goals, including the included in the loss column (L). the Australian conditions.” darken their collective mood. And yet, despite losing seven of their “As a team, I think we can take a lot of last nine tests and drawing the other two, confidence about how we’ve performed there is also a growing feeling of confi- over a the last 18 months or so,” said Broad. Bowe breaks world record dence in Australia. “We’ve had games where we’ve not The hosts feel the series in England was been that good but got away with draws KEARNS: American Brittany Bowe broke the closer than the scoreline suggested, their when we shouldn’t have done. We’ve got a world record in the women’s 1,000 meters Sunday batting line-up is more settled than it has really steely unit in that changing room.” in a World Cup speedskating race at the Utah been for a while and that if their quick Jonny Bairstow is on standby should Olympic Oval, finishing in 1:12.58. bowlers can fire on the hard home decks, Prior fail to prove his fitness, while opener Bowe broke the record of 1:12.68 set by they can really trouble England. Michael Carberry looks set to make his Canada’s Christine Nesbitt in Calgary, Alberta, on There was little chance that their prepa- Ashes debut at the Gabba with Root mov- Jan. 28, 2012. “I daydream about it,” Bowe said. rations for the second series could be dis- ing down to number six in the batting “I’ve dreamed in my sleep about it. When it rupted as much as those for the first, when order. Australia, though, has never been an becomes a reality and finally hits you, it’s a dream coach Mickey Arthur was sacked and open- easy place to tour for any England side. come true.” American Heather Richardson was er David Warner was stood down for Their last win at the Gabba came in 1986 second in 1:12.61, and the Netherlands’ Ireen punching England’s Joe Root in a bar. and their most recent victory in Perth, ven- Wust followed in 1:13.33. Richardson also cele- The excellent bowling performance of ue for the third test, goes even further back brated Bowe’s victory. “We train together every Ryan Harris in England was one reason for to the 1978-79 tour. day,” Richardson said. “It’s great to see her up on the growing optimism and the injury- The decision to move the Australia-host- top.” Bowe set her sights on winning the race after prone paceman articulated the feeling of ed Ashes out of its proximity to the limited finishing second a day earlier. Setting a record the Australia camp after the squad was overs World Cup in the cricketing calendar didn’t really cross her mind until the final lap. “I announced for the Gabba. means only 88 days will have past between knew if I could just hang on, it would be a really fast time,” Bowe said. “It’s time we brought the urn home and the two series this year. Japan’s Keiichiro Nagashima won the men’s we know that,” he said. “You always have There has been no sign of any Ashes 500 in 34.24 seconds. The Netherlands’ Ronald pressure at this level and there is extra after fatigue setting in, though, and ticket sales Mulder was second in 34.25, and South Korea’s not winning the last few series. have been brisk for all the matches, which Mo Tae-mum was third in 34.28. American “But if we play our best cricket we will also include tests in Adelaide, Melbourne Mitchell Whitmore was seventh in 34.52. win. We believe in each other.” Australia and Sydney. The Netherlands swept the top three spots in have been forced by injury to take a gam- “The Aussie public have got an excite- the men’s 5,000. Sven Kramer won in 6:04.59, Bob ble on pace bowler Mitchell Johnson recap- ment from feeling their side is a bit more de Jong was second in 6:07.43, and Jorrit Bergsma turing his best form after four years of settled and are really coming for us,” added third in 6:08.13. American Jonathan Kuck finished erratic performances which have made him Broad. “And we’ve a lot of confidence in our fifth in 6:09.73. The Netherlands also won the KEARNS: Brittany Bowe (center) of the United States celebrates her victory on the podium the favourite target of England’s Barmy own ability and I think if I was a fan I’d be women’s team pursuit in 2:56.02. Canada followed with Heather Richardson (left) of the United States and Ireen Wust (right) from the Army of fans. really excited about this series, it’s going to in 2:56.90, and the United States was third in Netherlands, after the women’s 1000-meter competition at the World Cup speedskating In addition, Harris’s fragile frame is be extremely entertaining.” — Reuters 2:57.09. — AP event. — AP