THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 SPORTS

Japan’s Uchiyama flattened as record hopes vanish

TOKYO: Japan’s Takashi Uchiyama suf- punches to flatter the champion. Corrales, who put Uchiyama out of his ically finished him off. “I didn’t see those has a record of 24 wins — 20 of them by fered a shock defeat by Panama’s Jezreel Uchiyama, who won the belt from misery with a vicious left hook. punches coming,” said a stunned KO-against one defeat and one draw. Corrales yesterday, a brutal second- Mexican Juan Carlos Salgado in 2010, Corrales entered the ring with a Uchiyama, who refused to comment on On the undercard, Ryoichi Taguchi round knockout dashing his hopes of a had been looking to overhaul Yoko skeleton mask and the fight quickly his future. defended his WBA light flyweight crown 12th defence of his WBA super feather- Gushiken’s Japanese record of 13 title turned into a horror story for Uchiyama, “I hadn’t even got warmed up. I tried for a third time after battering weight title. defences between 1976 and 1981. who was caught flush on the chin by the to stay calm and fight back but then he Venezuela’s Juan Landaeta in the 11th The 36-year-old Uchiyama, consid- But the Nagasaki-born tough guy, southpaw early in the first round. caught me again. That’s what happens in round. ered Japan’s best pound-for-pound box- dubbed “Knockout Dynamite” by Corrales knocked Uchiyama down this game.” Super flyweight champion Kohei er in recent years, had never tasted Japanese fans and media, was sent again with a left hook at the start of the Corrales, 12 years Uchiyama’s junior Kono followed suit by outpointing Thai defeat in his professional career-until crashing to the canvas three times in the second and with the Japanese star still at 24, improved his professional record challenger Inthanon Sithchamuang for Corrales unleashed a violent flurry of second round by top-ranked challenger wobbly on his knees, the challenger clin- to 20 wins against one loss. Uchiyama his third title defence. — AFP Rams eye quarterback, future at NFL draft

LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Rams aim Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers- to land a franchise quarterback capable of and challenging for the Super Bowl. leading them into a bold new era today All of which circles back to Thursday’s when the NFL draft gets under way with all draft, and the Rams’ potentially pivotal eyes on the California team’s first pick. choice between Goff and Wentz. The Rams, whose move back to Los “If you do this pick right, it’s the gift that Angeles from St Louis was confirmed in keeps on giving for a decade,” veteran January, stunned the league earlier this agent Leigh Steinberg told NFL.com, month after completing a trade with the reflecting on the potential upside of pick- Tennessee Titans to secure the No.1 pick in ing the right quarterback. the draft. Yet NFL history is littered with infamous The deal means the Rams are all but cer- examples of No.1 picks who have spectacu- tain to select a rookie quarterback for next larly failed to live up to expectations. season, with the choice expected to fall Moreover, when the first two overall between the University of California picks of the draft have been quarterbacks- Berkeley’s Jared Goff and Carson Wentz of as are Goff and Wentz-rarely if ever have North Dakota State. both players gone on to establish them- Both players have been interviewed by selves among the elite. the Rams ahead of Thursday’s D-day in The broader history of second choice Chicago, but officials have so far stayed quarterbacks in the draft also highlights tight-lipped on who they plan to entrust the risks. Recent second quarterback picks with the task of running their offense for include Tim Tebow, Johnny Manziel and years to come. Jake Locker. All are no longer attached to a “We’re probably going to take an offen- team. Both Wentz and Goff are loaded with sive player,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher quipped pros and cons. at a press conference in Los Angeles on Wentz has the physical attributes and MANCHESTER: British heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury (L) poses alongside Ukrainian heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko, during a press conference Tuesday. The stakes could not be higher for arm of an elite quarterback but naysayers to publicise their forthcoming world heavyweight title fight, at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, north-west England yesterday. Wladimir the Rams, who are desperate to hit the point to the fact that his college career was Klitschko has insisted he was “glad” to have lost his world heavyweight titles to Tyson Fury in December 2015, ahead of a re-match with the ground running on their return to Los spent at North Dakota State, regarded as a British boxer on July 9, 2016. — AFP Angeles, which has been without an NFL “small school”. presence since 1994. Goff meanwhile has earned plaudits for The Rams will play their home games his speed, footwork and mentality but Klitschko ‘glad’ of Fury defeat next season in the Los Angeles Memorial questions persist about his arm strength Coliseum, the iconic venue for the 1984 and physique. Olympics, before moving into a gleaming Les Snead, the Rams general manager, LONDON: Wladimir Klitschko has insisted he “After a while, you get used to defending and the United States, the World Boxing Council’s new $1.8 billion 80,000-seat venue in 2019. insisted however he did not feel overbur- was “glad” to have lost his world heavyweight not conquering the man in front of you. It will be heavyweight king. It is part of a long-term strategy by team dened by pressure as he weighed a deci- titles to Tyson Fury in December ahead of a re- different on 9 July.” “Before, it was clear: one champion, one fami- owner Stan Kroenke, who also owns sion which could have long-lasting implica- match with the British boxer. Klitschko, beaten just four times in 68 bouts, ly name,” said Klitschko. “When the chef is not in English Premier League side Arsenal as well tions for the franchise. The 40-year-old Ukrainian, world champion had not lost for more than 11 years until he the kitchen, the belts get lost-Fury, Wilder, as NBA and NHL teams in Denver, to estab- “You don’t feel pressure because at the for nine years, is now set to face Fury again in faced Fury, unbeaten as a professional. “If you Joshua. “When the chef leaves, the rats dance lish the Rams as an international brand. end of the day-and I’m not being political- Manchester, northern Englad, on July 9. “Losing want to destroy a person, give him five years of on the table. I want to show who the chef is in both players are very good,” Snead said feels good,” he told BBC Radio Five. “I’m glad that success. I had no failures for 11-and-a half-years,” the kitchen.” BUILDING A TEAM Tuesday. “They’re both going to have good my hand was not raised that night. said Klitschko. After beating Klitschko, Fury was stripped of The key component of that strategy careers. And I can tell you that we wanted “Failure is not an option unless it is the only “After a while it’s OK to make a mistake and I the IBF title because he would not face manda- however will be building a team capable of to get to number one (pick) so that we way to get better, and I had to get better. I need- made a mistake against Fury. I want to make that tory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov. The IBF belt emerging from the powerful NFC West- would have a choice to pick one of the ed a push to get better and I got it. I feel it.” clear in my revenge and it is what I’m looking was won this month by London 2012 Olympic which also contains the Arizona Cardinals, two.” —AFP Klitschko, was then the World Boxing forward to.” When Klitschko’s brother Vitali super-heavyweight champion Joshua in only his Association, International Boxing Federation and retired in 2013, the pair held all the major heavy- 16th professional fight. “There are so many World Boxing Organisation champion, suffered a weight titles between them. champions but that’s no disrespect to Anthony unanimous points loss in Dusseldorf, with Fury’s Joshua, because I’ve always been a fan,” said victory considered an upset by some pundits. “I ‘CHEF IN THE KITCHEN’ Klitschko. “He’s a talented guy that will conquer didn’t show my full potential in the fight,” But following Wladimir’s loss to Fury, the belts the division for a long time. Klitschko said. “Physically I was in one of my best are now spread far and wide, with Fury holding “He still has a lot to learn, but I’m putting a lot shapes, but mentally I wasn’t there, not present the WBA and WBO titles, fellow Briton Anthony of hope in him. He will represent the heavy- in the ring. Joshua the IBF champion and Deontay Wilder of weight division better than Tyson Fury.” —AFP Australia eye S Africa great Donald as bowling coach

MELBOURNE: South Africa fast bowling great Allan Donald will join Australia as bowling coach for their tour of Sri Lanka this year, local media reported yesterday. The 49-year-old, who took 330 test CHICAGO: Ohio State’s Ezekiel Elliott kneels as he laughs with other athletes during at an outstanding average of 22.25, could then an NFL Play 60 event at Grant Park, yesterday, in Chicago before today’s first round stay on as part of the top-ranked test nation’s of the NFL football draft. — AP coaching team for series against Pakistan and South Africa in the coming home summer, News Ltd media said. Australia declined to comment on Taylor replaces Malinga in the report but a team spokeswoman said the governing body hoped to have the Mumbai Indians IPL team coaching set-up for Sri Lanka settled within a “week or so”. NEW DELHI: West Indies fast bowler the World earlier this month Craig McDermott, who helped guide Jerome Taylor yesterday signed for the when the Caribbean side clinched the title Australia to victory in last year’s World Cup and Mumbai Indians, replacing Lasith Malinga for the second time, defeating England in a 5-0 whitewash of England in the last Ashes who was ruled out of this season’s Indian the final. Taylor has played in previous IPL series on home soil, stepped down as bowling Premier League (IPL) with a knee injury. editions, representing the Kings XI Punjab coach after the World Twenty20 in India. The 31-year-old Taylor will join the Ricky and the former Pune Warriors franchises. Donald, nicknamed ‘White Lightning’ during Ponting-coached side for the rest of the Sri Lankan veteran Malinga returned to a 72-test career from 1992-2002, stepped down Twenty20 tournament after the required Colombo after the first three IPL matches as bowling coach of South Africa a year ago, paperwork was completed, India’s cricket without having played in the tournament after four years mentoring the Proteas’ feared board said in a statement. to recover from the lingering injury that HARARE: This file photo taken on August 12, 2014 shows South Africa’s bowling coach Allan pace battery of , Vernon Philander The Jamaican played just one match for also kept him out of the World T20 held in Donald on day four of the one-off Test match between South Africa and host Zimbabwe at the West Indies, in the group stages, during India. — AFP and Morne Morkel. Harare Sports Club. Donald is set to join the Australian team as temporary bowling coach, After Australia’s two-test tour of Sri Lanka in including for a series against the Proteas, a report said yesterday. — AFP July and August, Donald was expected to remain in the post for a one-day series in South Africa, News said. Darren Lehmann remains Australia’s head Nadal to be Spain’s flag-bearer at Rio coach across the three formats but the make- up of his staff remains unsettled. Batting coach MADRID: Rafael Nadal is getting a second Rio. The tennis player has been a longtime departed last month to take chance to be Spain’s Olympic flag-bearer. Four enthusiast of the Olympics and stayed with years ago, Nadal was selected to carry the the other athletes in the Olympic Village at up a post with England county side Surrey, with Spanish flag at the opening ceremony of the previous games. former test batsman Greg Blewett stepping in London Olympics, but had to pull out of the The announcement came as Nadal defends temporarily. games with an injury. The honor went to NBA himself against unproven doping allegations. , widely tipped to be star Pau Gasol instead. This week, he filed a lawsuit against a former Lehmann’s successor, is to guide the side dur- Yesterday, Nadal was chosen as Spain’s flag- French minister who accused him of doping ing a one-day tournament against West Indies bearer for the games in Rio de Janeiro. The and asked the International Tennis Federation and South Africa in June to give Lehmann a announcement was made at an event in to reveal all of his drug-test results to show break before the Sri Lanka tour. Madrid marking the 100-day countdown to that he is clean. Blanco said recently that Langer will be assisted by Western Australia the Aug. 5 opening ceremony at Rio’s Nadal deserved to be the flag-bearer in Rio in bowling coach Adam Griffith and former Maracana Stadium. “This is a great honor,” part because of what he had to go through England batsman Graeme Hick in the Nadal, winner of 14 Grand Slam titles, told following the doping allegations made in Caribbean. local media. “I’m very excited. I hope the France. Roselyne Bachelot, former minister for Cricket Australia also announced yesterday games will be great and that the entire health and sport, said on French television the country’s top men’s coaches, including Spanish team can do well.” that Nadal’s seven-month injury hiatus in 2012 Langer, Blewett and Hick, would head to the Nadal won the singles gold medal in 2008 was “probably due to a positive doping test.” United States at the end of June on a study trip at the Beijing Games and also played in the Her remarks outraged Spaniards and to learn from leading sports teams, companies 2004 Athens Olympics. “Spanish sport was in prompted Nadal to take legal action to defend KOLKATA: In this photograph taken on April 2, 2016, West Indies’ Jerome Taylor and media outlets. debt to Nadal,” Spanish Olympic Committee his “image as an athlete” and to keep “any pub- bowls in nets during a training session on the eve of the World T20 cricket tourna- Apart from Major League Baseball’s San president Alejandro Blanco said. “He gave us a lic figure from making insulting or false allega- ment final match at The Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium in Kolkata. West Indies pacer Francisco Giants, the coaches will also engage lot more than results.” Nadal will lead a tions against an athlete without any evidence Jerome Taylor was yesterday signed in as replacement for injured Lasith Malinga in with Silicon Valley giants Apple, Google and Spanish delegation of about 300 athletes in or foundation.”—AP the franchise Mumbai Indians. — AFP Facebook. — Reuters