IN BRIEF (Page 24)
BASKETBALL
Yao's return could take longer than expected
HOUSTON, Texas: Yao Ming's return to the NBA from a broken right leg might take longer than expected, Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy told the Houston Chronicle.
Van Gundy said the Chinese superstar center has not practiced well with a brace on the injured leg.
Yao broke a bone under the right knee on December 23. The Rockets have said they expect Yao to return to games by mid-March to late March.
"What we've seen in the brief things he's able to do with us, you get the sense he's a lot further away from playing NBA basketball than maybe the timetables would suggest," Van Gundy told the newspaper.
"He does not look comfortable at all with the brace. He does not look agile. To me, he looks like we have problems to solve there to get him back.
"He has to wear this cumbersome brace. He feels that's a huge issue to his mobility, to his jumping, to his natural running gait. He's worrying about hurting something else because of the change to his natural running gait."
SOCCER
Brazilian ref suspended for sending off wrong player
RIO DE JANEIRO: A Brazilian referee was suspended on Monday for sending off the wrong player during a match at the weekend.
Rodrigo Martins Cintra has been banned indefinitely following his performance during the Corinthians-Rio Branco match in the Paulista championship, the head of the Paulista Football Federation's referees committee said.
"The mistake happened," Marcos Marinho told reporters. "He thought it was one player but it was a different one. He needs some time to get over it."
The incident happened during the first half when a Corinthians player was tripped by Rio Branco's Josias. However, Cintra showed a yellow card to Felipe who had already been booked and was therefore sent off.
Own goal sends Juventus back to the top of Serie B
ROME: Juventus returned to the top of Italy's Serie B when a late own goal by defender Matteo Centurioni gifted them a 1-0 win over Modena on Monday.
Juventus, who have a nine-point penalty from last year's match-fixing scandal, have 46 points from 24 matches, two points ahead of Napoli, who beat Triestina 3-1 on Saturday.
Modena's keeper Giorgio Frezzolini kept his side in the contest with a pair of good saves to keep out shots by Alessandro Del Piero and Pavel Nedved.
But he was beaten in the 86th minute, when Centurioni's attempt to cut out a Valeri Bojinov cross flew past him into the corner of the net.
GYMNASTICS
Romanian coach suspended for slapping gymnast
BUCHAREST: A Romanian coach has been suspended for a year for slapping a gymnast during a training session, the Romanian Gymnastics Federation (FRG) announced on Monday.
A video showed Mihael Anton, a coach with the sporting club at Timisoara in western Romania, hitting and insulting the gymnast after she had completed an exercise.
"After viewing the recording showing physical and verbal violence against a gymnast the FRG have decided to suspend coach Anton from all national and international activity for a year," said federation president Adrian Stoica.
"The FRG reserves the right to impose other sanctions against Mr Anton," added Stoica.
The probe followed several complaints over the past few years of bad treatment by coaches and their authoritarian style of work, notably that of former national team coach Octavian Belu.
(China Daily 02/28/2007 page24)
