IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Golf

Sterne claims Joburg Open after playoff

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: Richard Sterne needed two holes of a sudden-death playoff to win the co-sanctioned European Tour/Sunshine Tour Joburg Open on Sunday.

Sterne fired a six-under-par 65 to enter the playoff on 13-under-par alongside fellow South African Garth Mulroy and Sweden's Magnus Carlsson at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club.

That trio overtook third-round leader Mark Murless, who will blame putting mistakes for wasting a two-shot lead and finishing in a tie for fifth on nine-under-par after a 73.

Volleyball

Serbian men qualify for Beijing Olympics

LONDON: Serbia qualified for the men's volleyball competition at the Beijing Olympics by beating Spain in the final of the European qualifying competition in Izmir, Turkey, on Sunday.

They are the seventh team to reach the Olympics in August and join host nation China, defending champions Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Venezuela and the United States, who beat Puerto Rico in the final of the NORCECA continental qualifier on Friday.

The remaining five teams will qualify from African and Asian competitions, and via three final qualification tournaments in May and June.

NHL

Blackhawks' shootout win halts eight-game slide

NEW YORK: The Chicago Blackhawks brought a miserable eight-game losing streak to an end on Sunday with a 3-2 shootout road victory over the Nashville Predators.

Patrick Sharp, who opened the scoring in the second period, scored in the third round of the shootout to seal Chicago's first win of 2008.

Robert Lang also scored for the Blackhawks while Marek Zidlicky and David Legwand tallied for the Preds.

Francois Beauchemin's goal 33 seconds into overtime led the Anaheim Ducks to their sixth consecutive home win, a 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. San Jose had won 10 in a row on the road before Sunday's loss.

Soccer

Van Nistelrooy's late double keeps Real on track

MADRID: Ruud van Nistelrooy scored two late goals as Spanish champions Real Madrid defeated bottom side Levante 2-0 on Sunday to reestablish their seven-point lead over Barcelona at the top of the table.

A staggering 36 points separated Real and Levante before kickoff, but on the pitch there was little to choose between them before Dutch striker van Nistelrooy stole the points with his 10th and 11th goals of the campaign.

The Dutch forward put Real ahead on 76 minutes from the penalty spot before adding a second two minutes from time with a clincal right-footed strike.

Oman sack Calderon, hire Ribas as national coach

BANGKOK, Thailand: Oman have sacked Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon and replaced him with Uruguayan Julio Cesar Ribas just three weeks before the third round of World Cup qualifiers begin.

The newly elected board of Oman's soccer federation opted to ditch Calderon after 21 months in charge and bring in 50-year-old Ribas, a former coach of Uruguayan side Penarol and Italian Serie B side Venezia.

Calderon, 47, a former Saudi Arabia coach and losing finalist with Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, failed to make an impact with the national team.

They finished bottom of their group at the Asian Cup and have won only one of their four World Cup warm-up matches.

(China Daily 01/15/2008 page24)