gemuhope

World Cup fourth finisher Uruguay stunned Messi-led hosts Argentina in the Copa America quarterfinals on Saturday, roaring into the semis.

After the 1-1 tie in the regular time and the goalless extra time, Uruguay upset Argentina 5-4 in the penalty shootout.

Source: Xinhua

Yao Ming delivers a speech at a press conference in Shanghai, east China, July 20, 2011. Chinese NBA idol Yao Ming officially announced his retirement at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. The 2.26-meter Shanghai native, who played for eight seasons in the NBA after being the top overall pick in the 2002 draft, has been troubled with a series of injuries. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)
Yao Ming announced his retirement from basketball in Shanghai on Wednesday.

"Today is an important day for me and holds a special meaning for both my basketball career and my future," Yao said.

"I had to leave the court since I suffered stress fracture in my left foot for the third time at the end of last year. My past six months was an agonizing wait. I had been thinking (about my future) over and over.

"Today I announced a personal decision: I ends my career as a basketball player and officially retire."

The 2.26-meter Shanghai native, who played for eight seasons in the NBA after being the top overall pick in the 2002 draft, has been troubled with a series of injuries.

Yao, who will turn 31 in September, averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds and has been named to the NBA All-star team eight times.

Source:Xinhua

With 26 screws inserted in his left foot, the world-famous Chinese NBA player Yao Ming said farewell to the basketball courts at 30, an age when a man is just about to embrace the prime time of his career.

Yao\’s injury-forced retirement, which he officially announced Wednesday but had been revealed by media several days earlier, has prompted many Chinese basketball fans to question who will continue Yao\’s legend.

"Today I announce a personal decision: I end my career as a basketball player and officially retire," Yao said at a press conference held at the Kerry Hotel in his hometown, Pudong in Shanghai.

"I had to leave the court when I suffered stress fracture in my left foot for the third time at the end of last year. The past six months were an agonizing wait. I have been thinking (about my future) over and over," said the 2.26-meter Houston Rockets center, dressed in a dark suit.

Chinese expressed their regrets, support, and blessings to Yao, recalled his humor and pleasant modesty, and eulogized his sophisticated sports skills and dedication to philanthropy.

On Weibo, the Chinese twitter-like microblogging site, over 1.11 million comments concerning Yao\’s retirement had been posted as of 3 p.m., one hour after the press conference started.

"Now, an era has ended. No matter how great an athlete is, he will feel extremely helpless when confronted with injuries. I believe Yao will try his best to help boost the development of basketball in China after his retirement. Bless Yao Ming," Zhou Yafei, a Chinese professional swimmer, said on her Weibo post.

"I feel I\’ve lost part of my life. He inspired me to conquer all difficulties in my life in the past years," said David Zhang, a die-hard fan of Yao in his 30\’s in Nanjing, capital city of eastern Jiangsu Province.

"It\’s really sad. Watching Yao Ming\’s game is the collective memory of me and my bros, even a generation of Chinese youth. But I totally understand him, as he once said he didn\’t want to play with his daughter while using crutches in the future," Zhang said.

For Jin Yifeng, a 25-year-old fan of Yao in Beijing, what touches him most about his idol is Yao\’s perseverance on the court and patriotism.

"He\’s more a warrior than an athlete. He sweated blood in the game in spite of endless injuries," Jin said.

"In addition, Yao was always ready to go back home when his country needed him," he said. Under Yao\’s leadership, the Chinese national basketball team managed to reach the Olympic quarter finals twice in the past decade.

Noticeably, many Chinese have shifted their attention to Yao\’s successor. Thousands of Weibo users asked "Who is the next Yao Ming?" or simply declared "I\’m longing for the next Yao."

What Chinese people are anticipating may not just be an outstanding athlete, but also a "Chinese icon" that can represent a wholesome image of the emerging China, according to Meng Jian, a journalism professor with the Shanghai-based Fudan University.

Yao, who will turn 31 in September, played for eight seasons in the NBA after being the top overall pick in the 2002 draft. He averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds and has been named in the NBA All-star team eight times.

Source:Xinhua

Argentina\’s soccer player Gonzalo Higuain (Front) celebrates his goal during the match of quarterfinals of Copa America between Argentina and Uruguay in Santa Fe city, Argentina, July 16, 2011. Uruguay won 6-5. (Xinhua/Claudio Cruz)
Uruguay defeated hosts Argentina 5-4 (1-1) on penalties on Saturday and advanced into the semifinals of the Copa America, and will face Peru next Thursday for a place in the final match.

The game took place in the "Brigadier Estanislao Lopez" Stadium, in the city of Santa Fe which is 476 kilometers north from Buenos Aires.

Defender Diego Perez scored the opener for the Uruguayans in the 5th minute, and striker Gonzalo Higuain from Real Madrid equalized 12 minutes later.

Both sides ended the game with 10 players due to the sent-offs of Perez (38th minute) and Argentina captain Javier Mascherano (86th minute).

The game was entertaining and dramatic, with the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera honored as the Man of the Match.

After 120 minutes of football in which star Lionel Messi showed a good performance despite many fouls over him, the game went into penalties.

The first four penalties were all successful but substitute Carlos Tevez from English Premier side Manchester City missed the third one for Argentina after a great saving by Muslera.

The Uruguayans converted their remaining penalties, with Caceres scoring the fifth and final one.

Uruguay will face Peru in the semifinal which will take place in La Plata, 60 kilometers from Buenos Aires, at the "Estadio Unico" next Thursday.

The other two quarterfinal clashes will be staged on Sunday with Brazil to meet Paraguay in La Plata and Chile to face Venezuela in San Juan.

In a quarterfinal match played earlier on Saturday, Peru stunned Colombia 2-0 with both goals scored in the extra-time.

Source: Xinhua

Caption Arsenal\’s Denilson (L) challenges Ipsich Town\’s Colin Healy during their English League Cup semi-final first leg soccer match at Portman Road in Ipswich, southern England, January 12, 2011.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)

The Sao Paulo soccer team proudly presented Denilson on Tuesday.

Denilson, who left Sao Paulo in 2005 at the age of 18 to play for England\’s Arsenal, claimed that he was unsatisfied at Arsenal and with head coach Arsene Wenger.

After negotiating with the club\’s management, Sao Paulo sent a representative to China in order to guarantee the player\’s release. Arsenal was having a tour of Malaysia and China.

Denilson claims that he is in the best shape of his life and at the peak of his professional career. Due to his pre-season training with Arsenal, the midfielder says that he is ready to play in Sao Paulo\’s up-coming match against Atletico-GO in the Morumbi stadium on July 23.

Denilson has aspirations of playing for Brazil in the 2014 World Cup on Brazilian soil. He declared that his hard work and dedication will lead to his convocation and return to the national team.

Also on Tuesday, Adilson Batista commanded his first team practice as Sao Paulo\’s new head coach.

Source:Xinhua

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said on Thursday that Tokyo\’s possible bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics will in no way be influenced by Pyeongchang in South Korea hosting the 2018 Winter Games.

The IOC awarded Pyeongchang the 2018 Winter Games last week, beating stiff competition from both Munich and Annecy as the Games\’ host city.

However, some believe that Pyeongchang\’s success will adversely affect Tokyo\’s bid for the summer games to be held just two year later, being that South Korea and Japan are in a similar geographical location.

Japanese Olympic Committee President Tsunekazu Takeda had hinted that Tokyo may decide not to bid for the 2020 Games if the South Korea came up trumps in its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

"There is no rule like that. We go for quality of bids. We don\’t go for continents," Rogge said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents\’ Club of Japan.

The IOC president went on to highlight cases in which both successive Summer and Winter Olympics had been held to great success on the same continent.

The winter games were hosted by Albertville, France, in 1992 and Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, Rogge noted, and then the summer games took place in Athens in 2004, followed by the winter games in Torino two years later.

"That\’s absolutely not a problem," Rogge said on the issue. "I think there is a perception that there is an automatic rotation of continents and this is not the case. We go for quality, not continents," he said.

Rogge added that South Korea\’s success, following two failed prior attempts showed the perseverance of the nation and underpins ever-growing examples of "Asia on the rise."

Tokyo will announce its final decision as to whether it will bid for the 2020 Olympics this week, sources close to the matter said.

The IOC delegation led by Rogge is visiting to Japan to take part in the Japanese Olympic Committee\’s centennial celebrations and to show support for the victims of the March 11 twin disasters and those suffering from the ongoing nuclear crisis centered in Fukushima prefecture, in the northeast of the country.

Source:Xinhua

Brazilian goalkeeper Alexander Doni has signed contract with Liverpool, confirmed the Premier League side on Friday.

Doni, 31, played for AS Roma in Italy in the past six seasons, lifting the Coppa Italia twice as well as the Supercoppa Italiana. He also has 10 caps for Brazil.

Damien Comolli, Liverpool\’s director of football said, "We are delighted to sign Doni. It\’s a position we felt we had to strengthen because it will allow our young goalkeepers to go on loan and get some experience at some point during the season, which is crucial in their development."

The Reds are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia right now and will play the Malaysian national team on Saturday.

There were 37,800 fans watching Liverpool train for the first time in Malaysia on Thursday night.

Source: Xinhua

The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) on Friday vowed to set up a disciplinary committee to punish those found guilty of match fixing.

ZIFA president Cuthbert Dube was quoted by the state media ZBC News as saying that he is set to meet with the ZIFA board at the end of this month to deliberate on the setting up of a disciplinary as per FIFA statutes.

Speaking on the composition of the disciplinary committee, Dube said he would prefer the setting up of an independent disciplinary committee.

Dube\’s remarks follow the finalization of a report compiled by an investigating committee led by ZIFA vice president, Ndumiso Gumede who was assisted by ZIFA board member finance, retired Brigadier General Elliot Kasu, ZIFA board member competitions, Benedict Moyo and Fungai Chihuri.

According to FIFA statutes, the work put in by the investigating committee, a disciplinary committee is to be set up while cases of criminal nature are handed over to law enforcement agents.

To ensure impartiality, members of the investigating committee will be exempted from being members of the disciplinary committee.

Interest from fans comes in the wake of a report that was recently concluded by ZIFA which came up with findings on unsanctioned trips that began as far aback as 2007 when the Zimbabwe national soccer team took part at the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia.

In the investigating committees\’ findings, former ZIFA Chief Executive Officer, Henrietta Rushwaya, all ZIFA staff, technical teams, some national team players, match agents, referees and journalists have been implicated in arguably the biggest scam in the history of Zimbabwean football.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese super star Liu Xiang clocked 13. 50 seconds in the first round at the Asian athletics championships in Kobe, Japan on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua

Australian Rugby Team was dealt a heavy blow on Wednesday, when Benn Robinson was ruled out of the Tri Nations and Rugby World Cup, due to a knee injury.

Robinson, 26, was at training on Tuesday and feeling a "click" in his right knee. An arthroscopy then revealed Robinson had torn his anterior cruciate ligament and can play no part in the World Cup.

Robinson must undergo surgery in the coming days.

"It\’s disappointing news for Benn, disappointing news for the rest of the squad, and for Australian rugby as a whole," Australia national rugby union team, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans told Fox Sports Australia on Wednesday.

"No one likes to see injuries like this.

"The seemingly innocuous circumstances in which it occurred only adds to the frustration, but injuries have always been a part of the game.

"When the door closes for one player, it opens for another and I\’ m sure the other front-rowers we have will step up to fill the void Benn leaves.

"As far as Benn goes, we wish him all the best for his recovery and will be providing him with any assistance he needs."

The Tri-Nations, contested by South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, will conclude on August 20, with the 2011 Rugby World Cup will be held in New Zealand between 9 September and 23 October 2011.

Source:Xinhua