IN BRIEF (Page 24)

Soccer

China's title hopes dashed after 1-0 loss to Japan

CHONGQING: China had its title hopes dashed on Wednesday as it was beaten 1-0 by Japan at the East Asian Football Championship.

In the 13th minute, Chinese goalkeeper Zong Lei failed to punch a low cross from the left wing far away and Japanese midfielder Yamase Koji made a follow-up in time to sweep the goal into the unguarded net.

Faced with Japan's tight defense, Chinese players couldn't find the rhythm and their long-range shots and headers from a few corner opportunities hardly posed any threat to the Japanese.

In the opening match last Sunday, the Chinese men failed to break the 30-year jinx to South Korea with a woeful result 2-3, then having lost 16 matches of their past 27 clashes since 1978.

Cycling

Boonen wins second stage, Farrar leads in California

SACRAMENTO, California: Former world road champion Tom Boonen of Belgium sprinted past Mark Cavendish of Britain in the final 50 meters to win a rainy second stage of the Tour of California on Tuesday.

American Tyler Farrar took the overall race lead.

Boonen, competing in the US for the first time since 2002, claimed the 186.4km Santa Rosa-to-Sacramento road race in five hours, nine minutes and 35 seconds.

Heinrich Haussler, an Australian living in Germany, finished second and Mario Cipollini of Italy, competing in his first race since his retirement in 2005, third, both in the same time.

Defending champion Levi Leipheimer of the US, finished 21st in the stage and is now sixth overall, seven seconds adrift of the leader.

NFL

San Francisco releases veteran linebacker Smith

SAN FRANCISCO: The San Francisco 49ers have released linebacker Derek Smith, the team said on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old has been with the 49ers since moving as an unrestricted free agent from the Washington Redskins in 2000.

"Decisions like this are a difficult part of a great business," San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan told the team's website (www.sf49ers.com).

"Derek has been an important member of the 49ers, and you don't make these kinds of decisions without battling the emotion that is natural when you are dealing with a player that has done so much for your organization," he added.

Smith started 14 games last season and made 98 tackles - the fifth best record on the team.

Cricket

England draws with New Zealand in fourth ODI

WELLINGTON: New Zealand and England played out a thrilling draw in their fourth one-day international at Napier yesterday.

Both teams finished on 340 runs, leaving New Zealand with a 2-1 lead in the series with one match to play.

England batted first and made 340-6 with four players scoring half-centuries. New Zealand lost seven wickets in its run chase with Jamie How top scoring with a superb 139 and Brendon McCullum making 58.

How was run out off the penultimate ball of the match, leaving the Kiwis requiring two runs off the final ball to win. However, they could only manage a single.

New Zealand is one of only two teams to have chased more than 240 runs to win a one-day international, achieving that feat against Australia a year ago.

The final match of the series will be played in Christchurch on Saturday.

(China Daily 02/21/2008 page24)