Aussie Rules

Eagles get rid of the Blues

The West Coast Eagles beat the Carlton Blues on Saturday to advance to a preliminary final clash in the AFL with Geelong next weekend, thanks to a tight 15.11-101 to 15.8-98 win at Patersons Stadium in Perth.

The other preliminary final will see defending champion Collingwood tackle Hawthorn. The winners will meet in the Oct 1 Grand Final.

Miscellaneous

CPL comes to finale in Liuzhou

The Chinese Powerboat League's (CPL) 2011 season will end this month in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The event, organized by China's Aquatic Sports Administrative Center and the China Liuzhou SCMW Group, will be held on Liujiang River from Sept 20-30. This is the last stop of the CPL, the first league of its kind in China.

After the event, the International Aqua-speed competition will be held on the river. The competition features three events - the F1 Powerboat World Championship, the Aquabike (class pro) World Championship and a Sino-US water ski competition.

Tennis

Nadal angry with schedule

A furious Rafael Nadal blasted the packed tennis calendar on Friday, even refusing to rule out a strike over a schedule which has seen him play the Davis Cup just four days after losing the US Open final.

"I rule out nothing," said Nadal, who gave Spain a winning start to its Davis Cup semifinal against France, taking out his frustrations on Richard Gasquet with a straight sets victory.

"I wouldn't like to go as far as a strike because playing is what I like to do. But something has to happen.

"As the ITF (International Tennis Federation) doesn't want to listen, it would seem that the only way to get things moving is to act in the strongest manner."

Basketball

Spain, France in Euro final

Holder Spain and France advanced to the European basketball championship final, and qualified for next year's Olympics, by beating Macedonia and Russia respectively on Friday.

The Spaniards, who won their first European title in Poland in 2009, overpowered tournament upstarts Macedonia 92-80 while France, looking for its maiden major championship crown, beat Russia 79-71. Both sides also progressed to the 2012 London Olympics, along with host Britain. Russia, Macedonia, Lithuania and Greece will enter a 12-team playoff for another three berths.

Kobe still wants to play abroad

Kobe Bryant said on Saturday he's still considering playing overseas as an owners' lockout of players threatens to sabotage the upcoming NBA season.

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar said he didn't know if there will be a 2011-12 season and hasn't ruled out playing abroad. "I could," Bryant said. "I'm playing abroad right now."

AP-Reuters-China Daily

(China Daily 09/18/2011 page7)