A round-up of the weekend's other sports stories, in brief
China's captain Liu Wei suspended for 10 games
BASKETBALL: China's national basketball captain Liu Wei has been suspended for 10 games and fined €5,750 for leading an attack on a foreign player as he was exiting a stadium with his family.
Liu and several team mates from Shanghai Sharks ambushed Yunnan Bulls Nigerian forward Gabe Muoneke last week as he was walking through the players' area with his wife, three kids and mother-in-law, the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) said.
"Several Shanghai players forced Muoneke into the corner and laid siege to him for more than one minute, until Liu and others were pulled away by security staff," the CBA said. Muoneke had earlier clashed with Liu's team-mate Cai Liang on court after being awarded a technical foul late in the match, which Shanghai lost 107-97.
Maccarinelli title shot cancelled
BOXING: Enzo Maccarinellis bid to reclaim the WBO cruiserweight title tonight is off after opponent Francisco Alvarez failed the pre-fight medical. Alvarez, 31, stepped in at two days notice after Johnathon Banks withdrew. But the Puerto Rican needed two goes to make the 200lb weight limit before high blood pressure ruled him out.
Not a Star in their eyes
ICE HOCKEY: Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery was suspended for six games yesterday and ordered by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to have an anger management evaluation for derogatory remarks he directed at former girlfriends.
This is what we felt was the appropriate response to what Sean said, Bettman said.
The Stars Canadian forward sought out television cameras before Tuesday's game with the Calgary Flames and made inappropriate remarks about women he had dated.
Pregnant Hellebaut retires
ATHLETICS: Belgian Olympic high jump champion Tia Hellebaut announced her retirement from athletics yesterday because she is three months pregnant.
Hellebaut, 30, told a news conference she and her partner and coach Wim Vandeven felt it would be hard to match the high of 2008 when she took gold in Beijing as well as the world indoor pentathlon title.
"We decided to let nature take its course and let it decide if I would be doing the high jump next year or not. And nature decided very quickly as I turned out to be pregnant in mid-October," she said on her website (www.sport.be/tiahellebaut/nl/).
Blake and Mylotte rise to challenge
SQUASH: Great performances by Aisling Blake and Laura Mylotte saw Ireland beating Hong Kong in the 5th to 8th place play-offs at the Women's World Team Squash Championship in Cairo yesterday.
Against Joey Chan, Blake came back from three match balls down in the fourth game to win 11/9 in the fifth game of a 51-minute marathon.
Madeline Perry was next up playing 19-year-old Annie Au - the youngest player in the world top 20. With the pressure on, Perry struggled to find her rhythm and lost the match in straight sets. All then depended on third string Mylotte, who had picked up an injury in a pervious match. She rose to the occasion, dispatching her opponent in just 23 minutes.
5th-8th place play-offs: Ireland bt Hong Kong 2-1 (Aisling Blake bt Joey Chan 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 11-9 (51 mins); Madeline Perry lost to Annie Au 9-11, 5-11, 5-11 (31 mins); Laura Mylotte bt Shin Nga Leung 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (23 mins)
Death of Des Bradley
MOTOR SPORT:The death has occurred of Des Bradley, former Motorsport Correspondent of The Irish Times, writes Brian Foley.
He established a very successful specialist printing company, Print World, in Dublin, and was well known in motorsport circles having competed in a number of Circuit of Ireland and other major rallies, Hewison Trophy autotests. He covered all the motorsport events for The Irish Timesfor some 20 years. He took photographs at all the big motor racing events from Wicklow and the Curragh, to Dunboyne and Phoenix Park, and also wrote on general motoring for Motoring Lifeand Auto Ireland.
Despite failing health he attended Mondello Park and Dunboyne anniversary celebrations this summer, and only very recently competed in what was to be his last sporting trial. He is survived by his wife Pat, son Bernard, daughters Deirdre and Orla, and a large circle of family and friends. Funeral mass is today at 10am in Ballyroan Church, Rathfarnham.
