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McGrady, Granger dubbed NBA Players of the Week

NEW YORK: National Basketball Association Player of the Week honors went to Houston Rockets star Tracy McGrady and Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger on Monday.

McGrady was honored in the Western Conference after he averaged 32.3 points on 50 percent shooting, 4.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds, leading the Rockets to a 3-0 mark.

McGrady scored 47 points at Utah on Thursday, breaking his own record for most points by a Houston player against the Jazz.

Eastern Conference honors went to Granger, who averaged 22.7 points and 8.7 rebounds in helping Indiana to a 3-0 week.

The third-year player scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Red Sox sign pitcher Schilling for one more year

BOSTON: World Series champions the Boston Red Sox have signed veteran pitcher Curt Schilling for one more year, the team said on Tuesday.

Schilling had a 9-8 record through the regular season and brought the Red Sox to victory in Game 2 of their four-game World Series sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

Schilling's contract expired at the end of the 2007 season and he had been eligible for free agency.

The 40-year-old player is loved by Boston fans for playing through pain. In the 2004 American League Championship Series, on the way to the Red Sox' first championship in 86 years, he took the mound with a damaged tendon in his foot and played even as blood trickled from his sock.

Acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003, Schilling had shoulder trouble this year and was on the disabled list from June 19 through August 6.

Tendulkar says he does not want Indian test captaincy

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar said on Tuesday he did not want to take on the job of India's test captain again at present.

"I don't feel right about it at the moment," Tendulkar was quoted as saying by the CNN-IBN news channel, two days before selectors meet to name Rahul Dravid's successor.

Batting great Tendulkar, 34, and one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni were in the frame for the job after Dravid relinquished the post two months ago, saying he wanted to focus on his batting.

Tendulkar has led India twice before without much success.

Selectors, who postponed a decision on the captaincy last month, must now decide whether to hand the test reins to Dhoni, 26, who led a young team to success at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

Keeper-batsman Dhoni's leadership abilities were lauded during the home series against Australia which the visitors won 4-2 but he has played in just 20 tests since his debut in December 2005.

DPR Korea's Ri wins inaugural Asian women's award

KUALA LUMPUR: Democratic People's Republic of Korean captain Ri Kum-suk became the inaugural winner of the Asian Women's Player of the Year Award on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old striker beat Collette McCallum of Australia and Japan's Homare Sawa to the award at Tuesday's ceremony attended by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Ri led the DPR Korean team to the quarterfinals of this year's Women's World Cup in China and is a member of the Olympic team that has qualified for next year's Beijing Games.

"The reason I was able to win this award was because of our great leader Kim Jong-il and the support of the Korean people," she told a news conference.

Olympic golf would help the game grow, says Mickelson

SHANGHAI: World No 2 Phil Mickelson expects to see golf on the Olympic program in the near future, believing its inclusion would act as a spur to help the sport develop around the world.

The 37-year-old American impressed when he stopped off with his family in Beijing - venue of next year's Olympics - on his way to Shanghai to play in this week's $5 million Champions tournament.

"I think Beijing is going to be a wonderful host for the Olympics," the three-time major winner told reporters on Wednesday.

"Hopefully in the future, golf will become an Olympic sport, because then the Olympic foundations from every country will start to fund and support golf in all the countries throughout the world and golf will become a much more global sport."

Golf faces a tough task getting into the world's biggest multi-sport event as the International Olympic Committee is trying to contract the size of the Games.

(China Daily 11/08/2007 page23)