Schumacher wins Prince of Asturias sports prize

MADRID (AFP) — Germany's seven-time Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher was on Wednesday awarded one of Spain's highest honours, the Prince of Asturias prize for sports, organizers said.

Schumacher, 38, was chosen because his record "had turned him into a sports legend and the racer who has won the most trophies in the history of the sport" as well as for his charity work, said the jury that awards the sports prize.

"His generosity with the poor has transcended the borders of his country, a fact which was taken into account by the jury," it added in a statement.

Schumacher gave 1.15 million euros (1.56 million US dollars) to UN cultural organization UNESCO in 2005 and 10 million US dollars one year later to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in southeast Asia, the jury noted.

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 where he won five consecutive drivers' titles with them. He retired last year but occasionally still works for his former Ferrari team.

Schumacher beat 17 other candidates for the prize, including Iraq's national football team, which won the Asian Cup for the first time in history earlier this year, and a joint candidacy by tennis aces Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Former winners of the award include seven-times Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong of the United States and Moroccan middle distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj who holds the world record for the 1,500-metre race.

It was awarded last year to Spain's national basketball team.

Spain's Crown Prince Felipe is the patron of the Asturias foundation which annually hands out eight awards -- each worth 50,000 euros (68,000 US dollars) -- in fields ranging from sports to science and literature.


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Scotland to target Pakistan in Twenty20 World Championship

John Blain, the Scotland fast bowler, has targeted Pakistan as a
potential weak link in the forthcoming Twenty20 World Championship
which kicks off in South Africa on September 11.

Scotland join Kenya as the two Associate nations in the inaugural
Twenty20 tournament after reaching the final of the World Cricket
League in Nairobi earlier this year. But although considered to be
underdogs, Scotland, Blain insists, aren't there to simply make up
the numbers.

"We're more confident in this competition," he told the BBC. "We
have a decent record in this length of game."

In addition to exposure to the format in the country's domestic
competition, three of their squad - Dougie Brown, Navdeep Poonia and
Dewald Nel - have first-class experience in county cricket. And
Blain is far from daunted at the prospect of tackling Pakistan.

"We've played against the Indians, and they're a great batting
side," he said. "But Pakistan, with all due respect, can be volatile-
and it depends which side of the bed they get out of. The Pakistan
match has to be a major target for us."

Youth Sports Can Hurt The Very Young

I WANT to respond to Jim Farrell's Aug. 20 article, "Younger Kids Tackle Football."

Youth sports have become serious business to the adults running these programs. It is accepted practice for most youth sports teams to start their recruitment of children as young as ages 5, 6 or 7. This is the critical time for kids to learn socialization skills by playing freely with their friends. Being organized by youth sports limits this opportunity for young children. In fact, most young children I have taught as an elementary school teacher over the last 15 years come in with very poor socialization skills. This is due to many of them being organized in youth sports.

One statement leaped off the page and pointed toward one of the major issues in youth sports. Steve Alessi, president of the Berlin football league, stated: "You have to get kids early."



Competition for children in youth sports began when soccer went to multiple seasons years ago. Now, almost all youth sports participate in multiple seasons. The effect is that parents and kids feel pressure to specialize in that one particular sport. This has led to overuse injuries in youth sports as well as burnout by the time kids get to junior high school. Who is really being served by forcing kids and their parents to feel the need to specialize, or even play, organized sports at these ridiculously young ages?

The Connecticut Youth Sports Initiative calls for delaying the creation of organized sport teams until the developmentally appropriate age of 9 or 10. We also call for delaying establishment of elite travel teams until puberty, the only true time when athletic potential can be judged in children.

Rick Collins, Simsbury

The writer is a teacher in the Simsbury public schools and founder of The Connecticut Youth Sports Initiative

The Buzz: U.S. sprinter Felix wins third track gold

llyson Felix became only the second woman to win three gold medals at a single world championships track and field meet, helping the United States to victory in the women’s 4x400-meter relay. The Americans won in 3 minutes, 18.55 seconds Sunday in Osaka, Japan, with Jamaica taking silver in 3:19.73.

•Former Baylor star Jeremy Wariner anchored the U.S. team to victory in the 4x400-meter relay. The Americans finished in 2:55.56, with Bahamas taking silver in 2:59.18.

•Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat of the U.S. completed the first 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter winning double in track and field world championship history, capturing the 5,000 in 13:45.87. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya was second in 13:46.00, and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda took bronze in 13:46.75, just three-hundredths of a second ahead of Matt Tegenkamp, a former Lee’s Summit High School star who ran 13:46.78.

Morgan wins on Champions Tour

Gil Morgan won his 25th career Champions Tour title, closing with a 5-under 67 for a 2-stroke victory over Hale Irwin in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, Calif.

Morgan finished with a 14-under 202 total.

Tom Watson shot a 69 and finished third at 10 under.

•Brett Wetterich will take a 1-shot lead over Arron Oberholser into the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second tournament in the PGA Tour’s playoff series. Phil Mickelson is 2 shots back after the third round at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. Tiger Woods trails by 3 shots.

•Sherri Steinhauer held off a late charge by Christina Kim for a 1-stroke victory at the LPGA State Farm Classic in Springfield, Ill. Steinhauer finished at 17-under 271.

James scores 31 in U.S. win

LeBron James put a record finish on the Americans’ dominance in the desert.

James scored a team-record 31 points, and the United States beat Argentina 118-81, winning the FIBA Americas championship in Las Vegas.

Dwight Howard made all seven of his shots and scored 20 points, and Carmelo Anthony added 16 points for the Americans, who were never challenged while winning 10 games in 12 days and will head to Beijing next summer as one of the gold-medal favorites.

Rapids get even with Crew

Conor Casey scored in the 85th minute, giving the Colorado Rapids a 1-1 tie with the Columbus Crew and keeping the teams even in their bid for the eighth and final spot in the MLS playoffs.

Eddie Gaven scored in the 45th minute for the Crew in the match at Columbus, Ohio.

Prep football team finally loses

The streak is over at Charlotte Independence High School — 109 wins and seven years after it began.

Cincinnati Elder ended the nation’s longest football winning streak with a 41-34 overtime victory over the North Carolina high school Saturday night in Cincinnati in the Kirk Herbstreit Challenge.

Independence had not lost since falling 34-31 to Shelby Crest on Sept. 1, 2000, when this year’s team was in elementary school.

Quick hits

•Levi Leipheimer, who was third in the recent Tour de France, took the lead from his teammate in the final three finishing circuits and won the road-race title at the USA Cycling Professional Championships in Greenville, S.C.

•Colombia’s Ricardo “Mochuelo” Torres successfully defended his WBO junior welterweight title, stopping American Kendal Holt in the 11th round at Bogota. American referee Yino Rodriguez stopped the fight.

| Star News Services

Goals rain in Asia Cup as India submerges Sri Lanka

 

Kolkata, Sept. 1 (PTI): The Indian Football Association today announced a cash incentive of Rs 50,000 for each of the players from Bengal who were part of the recent Nehru Cup winning national squad.

Making the announcement at a felicitation programme, IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly told the players, "The amount may be insignificant for you, but please accept this as a token of our appreciation."

He said the function had to be hurriedly organised in view of the players' commitment for the Federation Cup. "We will organise a grand felicitation later," he promised.

Speaking on the occasion, All India Football Federation Vice-President Subroto Dutta said the Nehru Cup victory would inspire youngsters to take up the game.

"I'm sure this victory will also give impetus to country's football administrators to go further, work hard and succeed."

India skipper Bhaichung Bhutia thanked the IFA for organising the felicitation.

The players - Bhutia, Dipak Mandal, N S Manju, Sanjiv Maria, Debabrata Roy, Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Surkumar Singh - were handed mementos and bouquets.

Two other players, Subroto Paul and Syed Rahim Nabi, could not make it to the function.

Vijay Mallya makes bid for Spyker F1 Team

 London, Sept. 1 (PTI): Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya has joined hands with Spyker director of Formula One, Michiel Mol, to make an 80 million euro bid for the struggling F1 team.

Mallya's Watson Limited and Strongwind, owned by the Mol family, made the joint bid for the Silverstone-based team.

"This offer has been accepted by the Board of Spyker Cars N.V. and exclusivity has been granted to the consortium Orange India Holdings Sarl to proceed with due diligence...to achieve completion within 30 days," they said in a joint statement.

Dutch manufacturer of hand-built vehicles, Spyker Cars NV, owns the Spyker Formula One team, which it inherited from Midland for USD 106.6 million last year only to plunge in financial crisis.

Mallya, a Member of the Parliament, is also the chairman of both the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in India (FMSCI) and Motorsport Association of India (MAI).

Mallya's Kingfisher brand adorns Toyota cars and the flamboyant industrialist, also called the 'King of good times', recently said in an interview that part of bringing F1 to India would be to have an Indian company involved in Formula One.