Other Sport
Boxing - Briggs to defend title vs Ibragimov
The boxing odyssey of Shannon Briggs takes a new turn when the Brooklyn native makes the first defence of his WBO heavyweight title against Russia's Sultan Ibragimov on March 10 at Madison Square Garden. The 35-year-old Briggs, who began his professional career as a 20-year-old in 1992 and lost a 1998 title shot against Lennox Lewis, finally claimed a world title with his last-second stoppage of Sergei Liakhovich last November. Ibragimov, ranked number one by the WBO, had won his first 19 pro fights before battling American Ray Austin to a hard-fought draw last July in Florida.
Olympics - Pyeongchang first to be grilled
South Korea's Winter Olympics candidate city Pyeongchang will be the first to be grilled by a team assessing its suitability to host the 2014 Games, the IOC said. The IOC's Evaluation Commission will visit Pyeongchang from Feb. 14-17 before moving on to Russia's Sochi from Feb. 20-23 and ending with Salzburg in Austria from March 14-17. The Evaluation Commission will submit a report to IOC members no later than one month before the election of the host city on July 4 during the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City.
Swimming - Luo to skip worlds
China's Olympic breaststroke champion Luo Xuejuan will miss the world championships in Melbourne in March as she continues her slow recovery to reach full fitness, local media reported yesterday. "Her physical condition is still very unsatisfactory," head coach Zhang Yadong told Beijing Youth Daily of the 100m breaststroke gold medallist at Athens in 2004, who has battled injury and mental stress over the last year.