14 Sports WWW.PGCITIZEN.CA | MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 SPORTS IN BRIEF Benson Henderson successfully defends UFC title ’s Chan settles for (AP) — Benson Henderson came home and impressively retained the UFC lightweight championship Saturday night during UFC on Fox, bronze at Grand Prix Final unanimously outpointing a ! ustered . Jim HEINTZ The Henderson controlled the main event from the start, just a few miles from where he grew up in Federal Way. With the partisan crowd chanting , — is leav- Henderson’s name throughout the " ght, he took ing the Grand Prix Final of figure skat- a decisive 50-43, 50-45 and 50-45 decision, his ing with a bronze medal and plenty of second successful title defence. disappointment. Prior to the main event, rising Canadian star Rory Chan, who was second after the men’s MacDonald took apart former champion B.J. Penn short program, barely made the podium in a decisive unanimous decision that left Penn’s after finishing just 0.04 points ahead of face blooded and his body throbbing from body Spain’s Javier Fernandez on Saturday. ’s won gold shots. despite falling on his opening , while In the light heavyweight division, ’s Alex- his compatriot finished ander Gustafsson won a unanimous decision over second. former champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, likely Chan also fell on his initial quad, which earning himself a shot at the light heavyweight was to be a combination with a triple title next year. toe-loop. “To be honest, I’m pretty disappointed Russia’s Zubkov wins fourth with my performance today,” said the native. “Looking at the whole straight four-man race program I think there were a lot of good WINTERBERG, (AP) — title- things also – I did the triple axel-triple loop sequence, those two jumps that I holder Alexander Zubkov won his fourth con- AP PHOTO secutive four-man bobsled race Sunday to extend missed at Cup of Russia. “So each competition I’m kind of tuning Patrick Chan skates his free program to win the bronze at the ISU figure his lead in the season standings. in onto every little detail of the program, skating Grand Prix Final event in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday. Pushed by Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunen- which is what I like to see.” kov and Maxim Mokrousov, Zubkov beat World Takahashi recovered from his opening referring to the Iceberg arena’s future the Russian spectators to boost Asada’s Championship runner-up Maximilian Arndt of fall to land a quad toe-loop, but made role as host for at the 2014 spirits. Germany and his crew of Alex Mann, Alexander other errors including a hand down on Olympics. “When it began, I head some people Roediger and Martin Putze by 0.19 seconds. Arndt a triple-double. He took gold with mixed performed an array of clapping and I was happy to hear that,” made the podium for the " rst time this season. emotions. complex moves, including one in which she said. “Looking back on my perfor- Arndt was followed over the " nish line by the “Of course I am the champion of the GP he appears to drop her but holds on mance there were no major mistakes, so Latvian team of Oskars Melbardis, Daumants Final but there’s a lot to be done, there’s a with one hand while she wraps her legs that’s a great takeaway from today.” Dreiskens, Arvis Vilkaste and Intars Dambis, 0.35 lot of challenges and issues that remain,” around one of his. Asada’s only significant misstep was seconds back. he said. Both duos said the ease they showed on doubling what would have been her sev- ’s Justin Cripps " nished 10th. Chan wasn’t the only Canadian going the ice was deceptive. enth triple of the program. But her pre- After four of nine races, Zubkov leads with 900 home with a medal and things to work “It was one of those skates when noth- sentation followed the music’s emotional points. World and Olympic champion Steven on. World champions and ing really came easily, we felt like we had range, from the dreamy opening to its Holcomb of the , who " nished sixth, settled for silver in ice dancing to fight through it but that’s OK,” Davis lively conclusion. is second with 788 points. Arndt is third with 722. after losing out to Americans said. “It’s good to have skates like that, Wagner, who was just half a point be- and Charlie White. and it’s really times like that where we hind Asada heading into the free skate, Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, feel we grow the most.” fell twice and ended up a distant second. Jamieson wins rain-shortened from Ilderton, Ont., both in all black, Nathalie Pechalat and Wagner said her second fall, a frontal made a moving interpretation of the of took bronze. plunge on a double axel in combination Nelson Mandela Championship classic story. In women’s singles, Japan’s after a triple loop “was a bit of a freak fall. DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — Scotland’s Scott “It was definitely a program we had used a clean free program that ranged But to have such a hard fall and then go Jamieson won his " rst European Tour title on Sun- to work through, but our execution was from sprightly to quietly refined to win and complete the triple flip of that qual- day, beating England’s Steve Webster and Spain’s spot-on today. We had a really good, gold ahead of American . ity is definitely something I can take away Eduardo de la Riva in a playo# after the Nelson strong technical skate and we were able Japan’s was third. from this competition.” Mandela Championship was reduced to a 36-hole to bring the motion as well. So that’s Asada landed six triples in her program She’ll also take away some pain from shootout because of rain. exciting, especially in this venue, to lay to excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan the fall. The team doctor told her she Jamieson carded an eight-under 57 in his sec- down two strong skates,” Moir said, lake, a musical choice that delighted injured a hip. ond round at the shortened Royal Durban Golf Club course, which was adjusted to a par-65 and reduced by about 1,600 yards after being under water on Thursday and Friday because of thunderstorms. dominates World Cup; P.G. competitor on 13th place team

The Associated Press trailed Norway by 34.5 seconds. Russia the 4x6K relay. had nine missed targets and came 46.6 was only ninth after four early HOCHFILZEN, — Norway won behind in third. shooting mistakes but avoided further both the men’s and women’s relay events Scott Gow and Nathan Smith, both misses to gain seven places. Sunday at the second biathlon World Cup of Calgary, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec of Russia also had four missed targets and meet of the season. Shannon, Que., and Regina’s Scott Perras trailed Norway by 45.4 seconds in third The Norwegian men used nearly flaw- finished 13th. place. Defending relay champion France less shooting to beat defending champion It was the first men’s relay of the sea- took fifth. France in the 4x7.5-kilometre race. The son. Norway won two of four events last The Canadian women’s foursome of team of Lars Helge Birkeland, Ole Einar season but was still edged out by France Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., Zina Bjoerndalen, Vetle Sjastad Christiansen in the final standings. Kocher of Red Deer, Alta., Rosanna and Henrik L’Abee-Lund missed just one The Norwegian women’s team of Fan- Crawford of Canmore, Alta., and Megan target before finishing in one hour 17 ny Welle-Strand Horn, Synnoeve Solem- Heinicke of Prince George was 13th. minutes 55.2 seconds. dal, and missed The biathlon World Cup continues with France also avoided penalty loops but five targets and finished in 1:11:45.1 sec- a men’s 10K sprint in Pokljuka, , lost time with six shooting mistakes and onds to beat Ukraine by 30.4 seconds in on Thursday.