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SPORTS SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2013 NFL PREVIEW Bevy of playoff contenders promise frantic finish LOS ANGELES: More than a dozen teams plunge into “I would hope that we respond to that loss with a better Seattle, a perfect 6-0 at home, can secure the NFC the penultimate week of NFL action tomorrow seeking performance this week.” West title and home-field advantage throughout the to cement their playoff status. With two weeks remain- The Broncos also have home field advantage playoffs with a home win over Arizona or if the San ing, four teams have punched their post-season tickets, throughout the playoffs in their sights, if Brady and the Francisco 49ers lose to Atlanta in the final Monday night although only the Indianapolis Colts have clinched a Patriots-vying to secure the AFC East-fall to reigning game of the season. The Chicago Bears have a chance division crown. Denver, led by the incomparable Peyton Super Bowl champions Baltimore. The Chiefs, who have to secure the NFC North title this weekend, but Green Manning, can clinch the AFC West division title and a made a remarkable turnaround from a last-place finish Bay and Detroit also remain in a race that could come first-round bye with a victory at Houston tomorrow. in their division last season, face a tough home test down to the final week. Chicago needs a victory at Manning, a four-time NFL Most Valuable Player, has put against the Colts. Three other teams that finished last or Philadelphia combined with losses by Detroit and himself squarely in the frame for another MVP award tied for last in their divisions last season are currently Green Bay. The Packers, who erased a 23-point half-time with a stellar season that has him just four touchdown tied for first-Philadelphia in the NFC East and New deficit to beat the Cowboys last week, host Pittsburgh passes away from surpassing the single-season record Orleans and Carolina in the NFC South. while Detroit host the New York Giants. of 50 TD throws set by Tom Brady in 2007. Manning is New Orleans and Carolina can go a long way toward The Eagles, meanwhile, can lock up the NFC East also closing in on the single-season record of 5,476 settling things when they meet at the Panthers’ home with a win over the Bears and a Cowboys loss at passing yards. in Charlotte. The Saints halted the Panthers’ club-best Washington. Cincinnati, trying to maintain control of Manning insists his focus remains on beating the eight-game winning streak in New Orleans a fortnight the AFC North with the surging Ravens breathing Texans and securing the best possible post-season posi- ago and a win will give them the NFC South title along down their necks, host Minnesota. If both Cincinnati tion for his team, not on awards or records. The Broncos with a first-round bye. A win for the Panthers would and Baltimore falter, the Miami Dolphins could earn are tied atop the division with the playoff-bound Kansas assure them of at least a wild card spot. “We know what a playoff berth with a win at Buffalo. Other games City Chiefs, so that means they must bounce back from we’re playing for-we’re playing for the divisional cham- find Tampa Bay at St Louis, Cleveland at the New a surprising loss to San Diego last week. “We got pionship and the two seed so it doesn’t get any bigger York Jets, Tennessee at Jacksonville and Oakland at whipped in a lot of areas,” Manning said of that shocker. or better than that,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. San Diego. — AFP Stylish performance places Asia ahead at Royal Trophy GUANGZHOU: Y E Yang’s Asian team produced a dominant foursomes performance to sweep into a 3-1 lead on the open- ing-day of the seventh edition of the Royal Trophy. Playing with style and spirit, the power-packed Asian line-up put Jose Maria Olazabal’s European team to the sword over the Dragon Lake Golf Club’s Asian Games Course. While Korean Yang had reason to smile as his players lived up to the high expectations he had placed upon them in the build-up to the three-day contest, Spaniard Olazabal was left to reflect on a day of disappointment. “It was a bad day for us. We didn’t expect that start,” admitted the ex-Ryder Cup win- ning captain. “Now we have to be spot-on for the last two days and that’s our goal. We have to play aggressively and go for it. We do not have much room to manoeuvre.” Requiring 8.5 points overall to win and retain the title for Asia for the first time in Royal Trophy history, Yang warned his players against complacency heading into Saturday’s fourball matches. He said: “We just have to keep playing the same way. Most of our Asian team are playing very well at the moment and if we can keep up this form then I’m confident that we can win the Royal Trophy again.” Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat set the tone by putting the first point on the board with a 5&3 thrashing of Scotsmen Paul SINGAPORE: In this file photo, boxer Chris John (left) of Indonesia lands a punch at Shoji Kimura of Japan during their Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher in the lead-off game. WBA Super World Featherweight title fight at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Indonesian boxing star Chris John said Thongchai and Kiradech, the two highest ranked Asian yesterday he was retiring two weeks after being dethroned as the world featherweight champion in his first ever loss in players at 46th and 59th respectively in the Official World an astonishing career. — AFP Golf Ranking, came out all guns blazing. Four-up through six they were never seriously threatened. Kiradech put the icing on the cake with a 35-foot eagle putt at 14. Ryo Former world champion Ishikawa and Hiroyuki Fujita extended the home team’s advantage with a 3&2 defeat of Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger. The Japanese duo raced John retires after defeat into a three-hole lead after four and comfortably held their big-hitting opponents at bay. JAKARTA: Indonesian boxing star Chris John said yesterday wrong if I continue to work in the world of sports,” he said. He Behind them, Koreans K.T. Kim and Kim Hyung-Sung com- he was retiring two weeks after being dethroned as the world works with a Perth-based boxing promoter called Dragon Fire, bined brilliantly to see off the challenge of Spaniard Alvaro featherweight champion in his first ever loss in an astonishing which organises events in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. Quiros and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, 4&2. The highlight career. Known as “The Dragon”, John won the World Boxing He would not go into details about his retirement plans Friday was Kim Hyung-Sung’s nine-iron hole-out from 150 yards for Association featherweight champion crown in 2003 and suc- but in an interview with AFP in April, John said he hoped to an eagle-two at the fourth. The sole bright spot for Olazabal cessfully defended it 18 times. But the 34-year-old finally lost train future Indonesian champions after his own professional came in the final clash in which England’s David Howell and the title to South African boxer Simpiwe Vetyeka in a career came to an end. Scotland’s Marc Warren salvaged a much-needed point with a December 6 bout in Perth, Western Australia, throwing in the The boxer, who has Chinese origins and was raised as a 2&1 success against China’s Liang Wenchong and Wu Ashun, towel after six rounds. Catholic in the mainly Muslim Southeast Asian country of 250 ensuring the Europeans avoided a foursomes whitewash. During more than 15 years in the ring, John-who learnt to million, said he wanted to scout and train young talent for All square through seven holes, the turning point came at box using tatty gloves in a rural village-fought 52 bouts and Dragon Fire. In his comments yesterday, John also said he the par-five eighth where Warren holed out with a miraculous racked up 48 wins, three draws and just one loss. “I was disap- wanted to spend more time with his wife and two daughters, bunker shot from a plugged lie for a winning birdie. The pointed with my last performance but this is the right moment aged five and eight. John’s success in carving out one of box- Europeans won the next two holes and were able to ease for me to retire,” he said, adding that he was “no longer ing’s great modern careers is particularly remarkable given home. Warren said: “Playing an Asian team in Asia there was young”. John, who began boxing professionally in 1997, said Indonesia is not regarded as a great centre for the sport. There always going to be an onslaught on the first day. We were just he was discussing his retirement plans with his management. are few well-known Indonesians at the top level of boxing, trying to get something on the board for Europe.”— AFP “I take great pleasure in sports so I think there’s nothing and John was just the country’s third world champion. — AFP .

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