Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:00pm EST (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) was given a new economic proposal by the players' association on Wednesday, though there still appeared little hope of a breakthrough to end their bitter, two-month-old labor dispute. The union presented its latest offer while the two sides met for an hour at the league's offices in New York...

By Alan Baldwin SAO PAULO | Wed Nov 21, 2012 2:57pm EST SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Sebastian Vettel can become Formula One's youngest triple champion without scoring a point in Sunday's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix but Fernando Alonso has a more sensational script in mind. If Ferrari's Alonso retires from what promises to be a nail-biting race a...

Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:42am EST (Reuters) - China's double Olympic swimming gold medalist Sun Yang is planning a quiet revolution by freeing himself from the state-run system and choosing his own commercial agency. The 20-year-old shot to fame by winning two gold medals at this year's London Games and is well on his way to becoming one of his country's most recogniza...

By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:39am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Paul Lawrie believes his second-place finish in last year's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai was the springboard for his return to the Ryder Cup stage after a 13-year absence. The veteran Scot, winner of the British Open at Carnoustie in 1999, was in the doldrums for several...

By Tom Bartlett LONDON | Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:24am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Lock forward Eben Etzebeth has taken his place in an unchanged South Africa side for Saturday's test against England at Twickenham after being cleared of eye gouging in last weekend's match against Scotland. Coach Heyneke Meyer, whose team have already beaten Ireland and Scot...

By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:22am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Rory McIlroy is now so good he should be aiming to win at least one major championship every year, according to Europe's Ryder Cup talisman Ian Poulter. The Northern Irishman, 23, already has two majors to his name and cemented his status as world number one this season by beco...

HONG KONG | Wed Nov 21, 2012 4:58am EST HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ivan Lendl threw up his own Iron Curtain on Wednesday when reporters probed about the state of Andy Murray's mind and his game as Britain's newly minted Grand Slam champion switches his focus to the Australian Open. "I never get into the details of his game with anyone because it not necessary...

By Jahmal Corner LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:10am EST LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni took charge from the sideline for the first time on Tuesday as Los Angeles leaned heavily on their defense to earn a gritty 95-90 win over the Brooklyn Nets. D'Antoni was hired by the Lakers last week but had only been able to take the te...

Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:45am EST (Reuters) - South Korea's Choi Jin-ho will swap golf spikes for army boots and begin his military service after playing for an Asia-Pacific select side against China in next week's Nissan Cup. Just days after the Ryder Cup-style team event in Shenzhen from November 30 to December 2, Choi will begin 20 months of compulsory service, star...

NEW YORK | Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:17am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three-time world boxing champion Hector "Macho" Camacho was seriously wounded on Tuesday in a drive-by shooting in Puerto Rico, according to reports in the Puerto Rican press. Camacho, 50, was a passenger in a vehicle fired on by unknown gunmen in the Bayamon region of the island, just southwest...

NEW YORK | Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:15pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Yankees face a number of questions about their roster this offseason but removed some of the doubt about their rotation by signing pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a one-year contract, the American League team said on Tuesday. Kuroda, 37, went 16-11 with a 3.32 earned run average in his deb...

By Simon Evans MIAMI | Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:03pm EST MIAMI (Reuters) - It is no surprise to see elite NFL quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Drew Brees racking up big numbers in yardage this season but what is increasingly noticeable is the number of less accomplished quarterbacks joining them. Three quarterbacks have already passed the 3,000 yard ...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:10pm EST (Reuters) - The Kansas City Royals, trying to build a starting rotation to complement their promising young hitters, signed starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie to a three-year, $25 million deal, the American League team said on Tuesday. Guthrie, who turned in a strong second half last season after joining Kansas City in a trade with the Co...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 11:52am EST (Reuters) - The Toronto Blue Jays will feature a slew of new players in 2013 but a familiar face steering them from the bench with John Gibbons returning as manager of the American League club. Gibbons, who served as Blue Jays manager from August 2004 to June 2008 with a record of 305-305, replaces John Farrell, who left Toronto to ma...

By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM | Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:57am EST JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Europe's national Olympic committees scrapped a congress they were due to hold in the Israeli city of Eilat next month because of fighting between Israeli forces and Gaza militants, an Israeli spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Eilat, a southern resort city on the shores of the ...

MANACOR, Spain | Tue Nov 20, 2012 6:21am EST MANACOR, Spain (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal returned to the training court and started hitting balls again on Tuesday for the first time since the latest in a series of knee injuries forced his withdrawal from the U.S. Open at the end of August. The 11-times grand slam singles champion, who has not competed since be...

By Tony Jimenez DUBAI | Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:34am EST DUBAI (Reuters) - Luke Donald has urged the European Tour to consider recalibrating the money-list to avoid the sense of anti-climax that will be apparent at this week's season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Nine days ago, world number one Rory McIlroy guaranteed he would end the year...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 4:00am EST (Reuters) - The Hong Kong Golf Association (HKGA) will receive a much needed $200,000 sanctioning fee for hosting the national open last week, an official said on Tuesday, averting fears concerning the organization's future. The HKGA had said last week they were waiting to hear if they would receive the HK$1.6 million ($206,400) fee af...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:40am EST (Reuters) - The NFL has suspended Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed for one game without pay for an illegal hit in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the league said on Monday. Reed was penalized for unnecessary roughness in the third quarter of the game following a hit to the head and neck area of defenseless receiver Emmanu...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:25am EST (Reuters) - San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick tamed the fierce Chicago defense and dominated the battle of back-up quarterbacks as the 49ers scored a commanding 32-7 win over the Bears on Monday. With both Alex Smith (49ers) and Jay Cutler (Bears) sitting out due to concussions, the second-year Kaepernick rose to the occasion in his fir...

Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:53am EST (Reuters) - Denver snapped the Memphis Grizzles' eight-game winning streak with a 97-92 victory over the NBA's hottest team on Monday. In a battle that raged from start to finish, home team Memphis led 92-88 with about two minutes remaining but failed to close the game out, going scoreless and making critical mistakes in the final mom...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:27pm EST (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and players' association returned to the bargaining table in New York on Monday but a 90-minute meeting failed to produce a breakthrough in their bitter, two-month-old labor dispute. Discussions involving NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, four owners, NHLPA Execu...

By Simon Evans MIAMI | Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:25pm EST MIAMI (Reuters) - Former England captain David Beckham, hailed as a success for soccer in the United States, will say his farewell to LA Galaxy in next month's MLS Cup final with one more mission yet to accomplish. It was only in January that Beckham signed a new deal with the Galaxy but his dep...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:50pm EST (Reuters) - The Toronto Blue Jays put the gloss on a blockbuster day of acquisitions by signing free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera to a two-year $16 million deal, the Major League Baseball team said on Monday. Hours after gaining official approval on a massive 12-player trade with Miami, Toronto added another key piece with the former...

By Steve Ginsburg WASHINGTON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 3:00pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington Wizards coach Randy Wittman refuses to use injuries to his two best players, John Wall and Nene, as the reason for his team's feeble start to the NBA season. The second-year coach of the once-proud franchise also does not want to hear about a young roster...

ZURICH | Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:12am EST ZURICH (Reuters) - The case of the South Korean soccer player who inflamed a diplomatic row with Japan by waving a political placard at the London Olympic soccer tournament will be heard again by FIFA's disciplinary committee on Tuesday. The committee, which has to decide whether Park Jong-woo will face suspension fo...

LONDON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:11am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Scotland's most capped prop Allan Jacobsen has called time on his international career after winning 65 caps. "To play international rugby you have to be absolutely committed. You have to make sacrifices and do all the extra stuff in training and preparat...

MADRID | Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:51am EST MADRID (Reuters) - Spain captain Alex Corretja has defended his decision to pick Nicolas Almagro for the Davis Cup final after the holders were beaten 3-2 by Czech Republic when Almagro lost the decisive singles rubber to Radek Stepanek on Sunday. Corretja, in his first year in charge, had to field questions about why...

By Alan Baldwin LONDON | Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:10am EST LONDON (Reuters) - Red Bull and Renault will be working flat out to ensure Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel does not go into next weekend's title showdown in Brazil with a 'ticking time bomb' deep inside his car. Vettel leads Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by 13 points ahead of the f...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 2:09am EST (Reuters) - The Lakers are still waiting for coach Mike D'Antoni to take charge of his first game but Los Angeles continued their recent revival with a 119-108 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday. Dwight Howard had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant registered a triple-double with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, as th...

By Steve Keating AUSTIN, Texas | Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:12am EST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton claimed the victory and Red Bull clinched the constructors title but the biggest winner at the U.S. Grand Prix was Formula One with commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone immediately calling for more races in America. "The future of F1 in the USA? ...

Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:09am EST (Reuters) - The Baltimore Ravens took advantage of a Pittsburgh offense lacking the potency of Ben Roethlisberger to grind out a 13-10 win over the Steelers on Sunday, tightening their grip on the AFC North. The Ravens did not enjoy a spectacularly offensive night themselves but with Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger nursing a sprain...

By Simon Evans Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:04am EST (Reuters) - L.A. Galaxy and Houston Dynamo will meet in the MLS Cup final for the second straight year after clinching their Conference championships on Sunday. The Galaxy, featuring David Beckham in midfield, lost 2-1 in Seattle but a 3-0 first leg win last week that was enough to secure them a chance to defend...

Sun Nov 18, 2012 11:24pm EST (Reuters) - Brad Keselowski won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup title on Sunday with a 15th place finish in the final race of the year at Homestead, securing him top place ahead of Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson, who was searching for a sixth championship, paid the price for a pit road mistake and a part failure, completing just...

By Julian Linden Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:01pm EST (Reuters) - Houston quarterback Matt Schaub passed for 527 yards, equaling the second-highest total in a single National Football League game, as the Texans fought their way back to defeat Jacksonville on Sunday. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers and Atlanta's Matt Ryan also got it right when they really needed to as t...

By Gene Cherry Sun Nov 18, 2012 8:08pm EST (Reuters) - Athletes guilty of serious doping offenses will be suspended for four years from 2015 under proposals being considered by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), but there are no plans for a specific rule to ban offenders from the Olympics. Currently, athletes...

AUSTIN, Texas | Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:55pm EST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday while Red Bull's championship leader Sebastian Vettel failed to clinch his third consecutive drivers' title on his 100th career start. Red Bull did celebrate another victory, however, securing the constructors' title for a thir...

Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:53pm EST (Reuters) - Houston Dynamo reached the MLS Cup, the final of Major League Soccer's playoffs, on Sunday when a 1-1 draw at D.C. United earned them a 4-2 aggregate win in the Eastern Conference championship game. Dynamo led 3-1 from the first leg and extended their advantage with a 33rd minute goal from Honduran Oscar Boniek Garcia. D.C....

By Julian Linden Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:35pm EST (Reuters) - Houston quarterback Matt Schaub passed for 527 yards, equaling the second-highest single-game total in National Football League history, as the Texans fought their way back from the brink of defeat on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan also got it right when they really needed to as the Green Bay P...

By Jason Hovet PRAGUE | Sun Nov 18, 2012 5:25pm EST PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic beat holders Spain 3-2 to win the Davis Cup for the first time as an independent nation when Radek Stepanek overcame Nicolas Almagro in four tough sets before a raucous home crowd on Sunday. Stepanek, who jumped over the net and triumphantly waved his arms t...