WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2014 SPORTS

Voeckler to debut in Fijian international Murray, Beckham miss Tour Down Under Qera joins Toulouse out on knighthoods SYDNEY: French star Thomas Voeckler will race the Tour Down Under for LONDON: Fiji flanker Akapusi Qera has left Gloucester for LONDON: David Beckham and Andy Murray will have to wait a while the first time when his Europcar team debuts in Australia’s leading cycling Top 14 giants Toulouse, the English club announced yester- longer for a possible knighthood. Both sports stars were left off Queen event in January. Race director Mike Turtur said Voeckler’s climbing abili- day. The 29 year-old international, who has been with Elizabeth II’s New Year’s honors list, a surprise to some ties make him well suited to the 2014 route in and Gloucester since 2007, was contracted to the end of the sea- around Adelaide. who had expected them to be knighted. Murray son. But Toulouse, who currently lie fifth in the Top 14, made became the first British man since 1936 to win “Having worn the yellow jersey at the Tour de an official approach for Qera and reached a deal with Wimbledon in July, while Beckham ended his illus- France on two occasions and finishing fourth in Gloucester on adequate compensation for the time remain- trious 20-year football career in May. Both have 2011, Voeckler is an icon of the sport,” Turtur ing on his contract. previously been made an Officer of the Order of said. Europcar’s team also includes German “We are naturally disappointed to lose Q (Qera) at this the British Empire. Bjorn Thurau, who won the mountains classifi- time. However, on his return from the Autumn internationals, On a low-profile list of sports names, former cation at the 2013 Tour de Luxembourg, and he requested for his own reasons to be released from his Football Association chairman David Bernstein and former Japanese road race champion Yukiya contract early,” said Gloucester’s director of rugby Nigel 1969 women’s Wimbledon champion Ann Jones Arashiro. Davies. Qera added: “For personal reasons, I feel the time is were made a Commander of the Order of the British Australia’s Cadel Evans, the 2011 Tour de right for me to move on from Gloucester Rugby now after Empire. France overall winner, will also be competing the last seven seasons at Kingsholm. David Bedford, a former 10,000-meter world record in his home tour for the BMC Racing Team. “I would like to thank the club and its supporters for the holder who is now race director for the London The six-stage UCI World Tour event takes backing they have given me the years, and my time at Marathon, was awarded an OBE for services to ath- place in South Australia from January 19- Gloucester will always be close to my heart.”—AFP letics and charitable fundraising.—AP 26.— AFP Blackhawks edge Kings

CHICAGO: Chicago reclaimed the overall NHL lead and sent Los Angeles to its first three-game skid of the season by beating the Kings 1-0 on Monday, with goaltender Antti Raanta making 26 saves in his first NHL shutout. In the day’s oth- er games, Philadelphia scored in the final minute then beat Vancouver in a shootout, Ottawa made it rare back-to-back wins by defeating Washington, and Nashville prevailed in a ten- goal game against Detroit. Chicago’s Brandon Saad scored the sole goal in the first period for the Blackhawks who relied upon Raanta and their defense for the victory. Raanta bounced back from one of his worst performances, in which he allowed two late goals in the shootout loss at St Louis on Saturday. The Kings are on their first three-game slide since dropping the opening three games of : cricketers (2nd left), (2nd right), and last season. Philadelphia’s Vinny Lecavalier bowler (right) celebrate after the dismissal of Sri Lankan batsman scored the only goal in the shootout as the Dimuth Karunaratne during the opening day of their first Test match between Flyers escaped with a 4-3 win over Vancouver. Pakistan and at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday. —AFP Lecavalier scored on Philadelphia’s first shootout attempt, and Steve Mason stopped all three Junaid keeps Pakistan shooters as the Flyers earned their third straight win. Mark Streit, Claude Giroux and Brayden high in first Test Schenn also scored in regulation for ABU DHABI: Paceman Junaid Khan Silva (20) gave their team a sound start, Philadelphia, which has not lost at Vancouver grabbed five and putting on 57 for the first . But, since 1989. Tom Sestito, Jannik Hansen and finished with three as Pakistan enjoyed from 66-1, Sri Lanka lost seven wickets for Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks. Ottawa the better of the opening day of the first the addition of 101 runs in the afternoon won a third-straight home game for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi yes- session. Bhatti, making his Test debut, time this season, downing Washington 3-1. terday. Junaid claimed his fourth five- took three wickets off just eight balls after Nashville’s Colin Wilson had two goals and an wicket haul, taking figures of 5-58, while lunch. He had Silva caught at slip off the assist to lead the Predators to a 6-4 victory over Bhatti took 3-65 in his first Test as Sri fourth ball after the resumption and then Detroit. Lanka were bowled out for 204 after had the experienced Mahela Jayawardene CHICAGO: Brandon Saad #20 of the Chicago Blackhawks celebrates his first period goal against Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and opted to (5) caught behind in his next over. PREDATORS 6, RED WINGS 4 Martin Jones #31 of the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center on December 30, 2013 in bowl first on a greenish Sheikh Zayed A ball earlier, Jayawardene had been Colin Wilson had two goals and an assist, and Chicago, Illinois. — AFP Stadium pitch. caught behind only to see the umpire call Mike Fisher scored a goal and helped set up two By the close on the opening day it a no-ball. Two balls later, Bhatti had others in Nashville’s victory over Detroit. Fisher game in the final minute of regulation and beat and Brayden Schenn also scored in regulation Pakistan reached 46-1 with debutant Dinesh Chandimal caught in the slip by has three goals and three assists in Nashville’s Vancouver. The Flyers, who improved to 2-0 on for the Flyers. Giroux, who added an assist, has a opener on 25. for a to leave Sri past two games. Craig Smith, Nick Spaling, and their Western road trip, beat Edmonton in a nine-game point streak. Philadelphia hasn’t lost Fellow opener Khurram Manzoor ran him- Lanka struggling at 76-4. It was left to Roman Josi also scored. Justin Abdelkader, Pavel shootout on Saturday. Lecavalier scored on at Vancouver since Dec. 31, 1989. Tom Sestito, self out after making 21, leaving Pakistan Junaid to do the rest. The left-armer dis- Datsyuk, Drew Miller, and Patrick Eaves scored for Philadelphia’s first shootout attempt, and Steve Jannik Hansen and Daniel Sedin scored for trailing by 158 runs but with nine first- missed Sri Lanka’s most reliable batsman, the Red Wings, who have lost two of three. The Mason stopped all three shooters as the Flyers Vancouver (23-11-7), which lost for the third innings wickets remaining. Amidst the Kumar Sangakkara, caught off an uppish teams combined for five goals in a back-and- (19-16-4) earned their third straight win and time in eight games. Eddie Lack, in his third collapse in the Sri Lankan innings, skipper drive at point for 16, and had both forth third period, but Nashville never relinquish- sixth in eight games. Mason made 41 saves appearance in place of injured No. 1 goalie Angelo Mathews stood out, defying the Prasanna Jayawardene (5) and Sachitra ing the lead. Wilson put the Predators ahead 1:54 through overtime. Mark Streit, Claude Giroux Roberto Luongo, made 25 saves.—Agencies Pakistan attack for 160 minutes for his 91. Senanayake (5) caught behind. He then into the game with a wrist shot from the high He added an invaluable 61 for the ninth bowled Rangana Herath for a duck to slot that beat goalie Jimmy Howard on the glove wicket with Shaminda Eranga (14) to lift complete his fourth five-wicket haul-all side. It was the first shot on Howard, who had Sri Lanka from a precarious 124-8. four have come against Sri Lanka. It was a been out with a knee injury since Dec. 10. NHL results/standings Mathews hit 15 boundaries during his different story in the first session, howev- fighting knock, improving on his previous er. Karunaratne hit three boundaries in SENATORS 3, CAPITALS 1 Ottawa 3, Washington 1; Chicago 1, Los Angeles 0; Nashville 6, Detroit 4; Philadelphia 4, Vancouver 3 (SO). best of 64 not out against Pakistan at the first three overs, and five in all, before Kyle Turris’ goal helped Ottawa beat Western Conference Eastern Conference Colombo in 2009 before he was the last he miscued a drive off Junaid and was Washington and earn its first winning streak in Pacific Division Atlantic Division 51 days. The Senators have won three straight at W L OTL GF GA PTS Boston 26 11 2 114 81 54 man out, off , who smartly snapped up at gully by Asad Tampa Bay 23 12 4 110 93 50 finished with 2-32. Junaid said the pitch Shafiq. Pakistan strove hard for wickets in home for the first time this season. Mika Anaheim 28 8 5 131 103 61 San Jose 25 8 6 128 98 56 Montreal 23 14 3 99 89 49 needed bowlers to keep line and length. the first hour and wasted one review Zibanejad and Clarke MacArthur, with an empty- Detroit 18 14 9 107 117 45 Los Angeles 25 11 4 108 80 54 “It’s a good pitch and if you bowl line and when they appealed for a catch behind net goal, also scored for Ottawa (17-18-7). Craig Toronto 20 16 5 115 118 45 Anderson stopped 34 shots. He made 14 saves in Vancouver 23 11 7 111 97 53 Ottawa 17 18 7 118 135 41 length then you get success,” said Junaid, against Silva off Junaid. Replays showed Phoenix 19 10 9 116 117 47 the second period and 11 more in the third. Joel Florida 15 20 5 95 128 35 who now has 47 wickets in his 14 Tests. “I the batsman had not touched the ball. Calgary 14 19 6 95 122 34 Buffalo 11 24 4 71 110 26 have improved a lot after getting good Pakistan also gave a Test debut to Ward scored the lone goal for the Capitals (20- Edmonton 13 24 4 106 139 30 Metropolitan Division tips from legends like Wasim Akram, Shehzad after he had played 40 one-day 15-5), who have lost back-to-back games. Phillip Pittsburgh 29 11 1 130 94 59 Grubauer, in his fourth straight start, made 35 Central Division Washington 20 15 5 122 119 45 and our bowling coach internationals in the last four years, while Philadelphia19 16 4 101 110 42 Mohammad Akram.” spinner Senanayake was given his Test saves. With just over two minutes remaining, Chicago 28 7 7 158 115 63 St. Louis 26 7 5 137 92 57 NY Rangers 19 19 2 94 108 40 Misbah-ul-Haq’s decision to field first debut for Sri Lanka. The second Test will Anderson made a great glove save on Eric Fehr New Jersey 16 16 8 95 102 40 Colorado 23 11 4 109 97 50 had looked unwise as Sri Lankan openers be played in Dubai (January 8-12) and the to preserve the lead. Columbus 17 18 4 106 112 38 Dallas 19 12 7 112 111 45 Carolina 14 16 9 91 114 37 Dimuth Karunaratne (38) and Kaushal third in Sharjah (January 16-20).— AFP Minnesota 20 16 5 96 107 45 FLYERS 4, CANUCKS 3, SO NY Islanders 12 21 7 102 135 31 Winnipeg 18 18 5 111 121 41 Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the Vinny Lecavalier scored the only goal in the Nashville 18 18 4 95 119 40 standings and are not included in the loss column (L). SCOREBOARD shootout for Philadelphia, which rallied to tie the Scoreboard at the close on the first day of the opening test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Pakistan first innings K. Silva c Hafeez b Bhatti 20 Khurram Manzoor run out 21 K. Sangakkara c Shehzad b Junaid 16 Schumacher slightly better - but fragile Ahmed Shehzad not out 25 M. Jayawardene c Akmal b Bhatti 5 GRENOBLE: French doctors treating operation carried out around 10.00 he told the news conference. Dolomites and Schumacher, a fitness Total (one wicket; 18.1 overs) 46 D. Chandimal c Hafeez b Bhatti 0 A. Mathews st Akmal b Ajmal 91 Michael Schumacher for brain pm (2100 GMT) on Monday had suc- Schumacher, who lives in fanatic, impressed with his skiing Still to bat: Mohammad Hafeez, Younus Khan, P. Jayawardene c Akmal b Junaid 5 injuries sustained in a ski fall said the cessfully removed a large hematoma Switzerland with his wife and two ability. German Chancellor Angela Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, S. Senanayake C Akmal b Junaid 5 seven-times Formula One world - the medical term for a build-up of children, is the most successful Merkel had been deeply shocked to Bilawal Bhatti, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid R. Herath b Junaid 0 champion was in slightly better con- blood - from his brain. “It was larger Formula One driver of all times with learn of his accident, her spokesman Khan S. Eranga c Akmal b Ajmal 14 dition yesterday after an overnight and more accessible (than others) ... a record 91 race victories in a career said on Monday as expressions of Fall of wicket: 1-46 S. Lakmal not out 1 operation, but that he remained We judged we could remove it with- spanning more than two decades. concern poured in from fans, former Bowling: Lakmal 7-2-17-0, Mathews 1-0-6-0, Extras (b-4, lb-4, nb-1) 9 fragile. The 44-year-old German is out taking any risks,” Gay said. Schumacher left the sport last team-mates and rivals. Former Eranga 5-1-18-0, Herath 5-3-5-0, Senanayake 0.1- Total (all out; 65 overs) 204 battling for his life after slamming He said the operation was year after a less successful three- British Formula One driver David 0-0-0 Fall of wickets: 1-57 2-67 3-76 4-76 5-82 6-104 7- his head against a rock while skiing designed to reduce, within year comeback with Mercedes fol- Coulthard said he believed 124 8-124 9-185 Sri Lanka first innings Bowling: Junaid 20-4-58-5, Rahat 16-3-41-0, off-piste in the French resort of Schumacher’s skull, the pressure on lowing an earlier retirement from Schumacher had not won the full D. Karunaratne c Shafiq b Junaid 38 Bhatti 15-1-65-3 (1nb), Ajmal 14-3-32-2. Meribel on Sunday, an accident the brain. Doctors said the fact that Ferrari at the end of 2006. French recognition he merited for taking his which triggered an outpouring of the retired motor racing champion authorities have opened an investi- sport to new heights. “I only hope concern among fans around the was wearing a helmet at the time of gation into the accident, which took Michael Schumacher pulls through world. the accident had at least enabled place as Schumacher was out skiing so that he can see all the nice things US Olympic speedskating’s Doctors treating him at a hospital him to make it to the hospital alive. with his teenage son. Ferrari always people are saying about him,” he in the eastern city of Grenoble said Payen said the medical team in used to have an annual January wrote in the Daily Telegraph news- hopeful injured at practice his condition had stabilized enough Grenoble had discussed the opera- gathering with their drivers in the paper.— Reuters by late Monday to carry out a new tion with Schumacher’s family. He KEARNS: Olympic hopeful Theresa Cliff- arena before coaches and athletes raced to operation to treat the effects of added that the condition of the Ryan was injured Monday when she landed her side. Trainers rushed to the track within internal bleeding within motor racing great was still too frag- on her head after being struck on the side- seconds and put her in a neck brace. Schumacher’s skull. “The situation is ile to consider transferring him to lines by a crashing speedskater, likely end- Cliff-Ryan was taken by ambulance to a more under control than yesterday another hospital for the time being. ing her quest to make the US team for hospital, where she was treated and but we cannot say he is out of dan- Sochi. Cliff-Ryan sustained a concussion and released. Kooreman said Cliff-Ryan was tak- ger,” Jean-Francois Payen, head NEXT DAYS CRUCIAL had several teeth knocked out, according to en to an oral surgeon to have her teeth anaesthetician, told a news confer- Schumacher is under the care of her coach, Matt Kooreman, who added that repaired and would be re-evaluated again ence at the CHU hospital in the east- Professor Gerard Saillant, a brain and she was lucky the injuries weren’t more seri- for her concussion and whiplash symptoms. ern French city of Grenoble. spinal injury expert who is also pres- ous. But it seemed unlikely she would be able to “We have won some time but we ident of the International The 35-year-old Cliff-Ryan had her back compete in the final two events of the trials, must continue an hour-by-hour sur- Automobile Federation (FIA) to the ice during an off-day practice session the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. veillance... It is premature to specu- Institute. Saillant said it was still at the Utah Olympic Oval, having completed “It’s really sad,” the coach said. “Thought late on his condition,” he said, impossible to say how Schumacher’s her workout. Suddenly, Kevin Geminder lost she had a great shot at winning the 5,000.” adding that Schumacher was still in condition would progress in coming his balance on the front straightaway while Geminder just missed two-time Olympic a critical state and suffering from days. “We are a little less worried going full speed. He slid off the track and gold medalist Shani Davis, who was sitting severe lesions and contusions. than yesterday but I’m sure you right into Cliff-Ryan, flipping her into the air. on a bench getting ready to go on the ice. Emmanuel Gay, head of the hospi- understand that the situation could GRENOBLE: Resort officials stand in the French Alps ski resort of She landed face-first on the concrete sur- Davis ran away as the crashing skater slid tal’s neurosurgery service, said the change this evening or tomorrow,” Meribel by the rocky part between two slopes where German retired face, sending a collective gasp through the by, clearly shaken by the close call.—AP Formula One legend Michael Schumacher had an accident. —AFP