bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

SUNDAY

Soccer: Liverpool's England striker Michael Owen fluffs a penalty in an FA Cup fifth-round replay, allowing Portsmouth a shock 1-0 victory to set up a quarter-final against holders Arsenal. Owen's pitiful penalty shot in the 61st minute is easily gathered by Portsmouth goalkeeper Shaka Hislop, who is celebrating his 35th birthday. Eleven minutes later, substitute Robert Hughes lashes a low shot into the far corner of the net to decide a tense encounter at Fratton Park.

Golf: A heroic hole-in-one by Thongchai Jaidee helps him win the US$1.21 million Carlsberg Malaysian Open at Saujana Golf and Country Club. The 34-year-old, encouraged by his par-three 16th success, becomes the first golfer from Thailand to win on the European Tour after beating Australian Brad Kennedy, by two strokes. Thongchai fires a four-under-par 68 for a four-round total of 14-under-par 274, to win US$201,660 for the biggest pay day of his career.

MONDAY

Soccer: Thailand's billionaire prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is intent on buying an English football club by June and is eyeing Merseyside giants Liverpool, the Thai national team coach declares. 'He is considering Liverpool. The prime minister thinks they are the most desirable of all,' coach Thawatchai Sajakul says after Thaksin revived talk of his plans to buy one of England's Premier League teams. 'It is time to shop around,' adds the coach, who, as a Member of Parliament in Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai political party, has been assigned to look into taking over a club.  Racing: Promising apprentice jockey Thomas Yeung Kai-tong decides to quit the sport, less than a year after riding his first Hong Kong winner. Yeung meets with trainer David Hayes, chief stipendiary steward Jamie Stier and Mark Tung, the head of the Hong Kong Jockey Club apprentice jockeys' school, and informs them he no longer wants to be a jockey. Jockey Club sources think Yeung's decision has been 'coming for some time' and that those close to the jockey think he will not change his mind.

TUESDAY

Athletics: British sprinter Dwain Chambers faces the end of his track career after being found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs and receiving a two-year ban. Chambers' penalty, which includes a life ban from the Olympics, follows a positive test for the steroid THG. Chambers and four other track and field athletes tested positive for THG last summer.  The track federation says Chambers has 60 days to appeal to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Soccer: Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn costs his side almost certain victory against Real Madrid when he makes a dreadful blunder. Kahn says he will make up for his error on the return leg in Madrid. Kahn allows a seemingly harmless free-kick shot by Roberto Carlos from 30 metres to slip under his body seven minutes from time. The Bayern and German captain made a similarly costly mistake in the 2002 World Cup final when he fumbled a free-kick shot by another Brazilian, Rivaldo.

WEDNESDAY

Funding: In a letter to Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, all the head coaches at Hong Kong's elite Sports Institute in Sha Tin, and athletes including windsurfer Lee Lai-shan and cycling ace Wong Kam-po, urge the government not to cut funding for sport and ask instead for $250 million annually to be spent on elite sports. 'The proportion of the pie given to elite sports is too small. It is smaller than what countries like Singapore and Macau get,' says Chris Perry, long-standing head rowing coach. 'If we don't start investing now, Hong Kong sport will be a big joke by the time the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing comes around,' he said.

Swimming: Olympic legend Shane Gould says she will be competing at the Australian Olympic trials in April, more than 30 years after she won three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The 47-year-old mother of four and soon to be grandmother will line up in the 50-metres butterfly at the national championships.

THURSDAY

Athletics: Fourteen local runners are disqualified from the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon run earlier this month. Organisers also reveal that nearly 25 per cent of the competitors had taken part without wearing a race number - against the rules - but could not confirm if that was because their numbers were hidden under a layer of clothing due to the cold weather on the day of the race.

The 14 runners had entered the full 42.2km  marathon but instead had run only the half marathon course. Ko also confirms that 25 per cent of participants had taken part without race numbers. Running without numbers is not an uncommon occurrence in Hong Kong races.

Rugby Sevens: 'There are no easy matches any more in sevens rugby,' sighs veteran campaigner Paul Dingley after Hong Kong are drawn against mighty Fiji as well as Canada and Portugal for this year's competition. 'It would have been nice to have got an Asian side in our pool as opposed to Portugal, who will be tough.' Spare a thought for Scotland, who come up against reigning champions England.

FRIDAY

Olympics: International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge says he still can't be sure that with less than six months to go before opening on August 13, the Summer Olympics in Athens will begin without a hitch. Roggue said the IOC was sending experts to Athens on a nearly weekly basis to make sure the timetable for last minute development was on schedule. His remarks appeared aimed at instilling a new sense of urgency in Greek organisers in the final phase of venue construction and security planning.

American football: San Francisco 49ers announce that wide receiver Terrell Owens and his agent, David Joseph have failed to meet a deadline to exercise his escape clause. The oversight leaves intact Owens' contract, which runs for three more years. 'I have spoken to the NFL management council, and they have confirmed that Terrell Owens will not be among the players listed as an unrestricted free agent,' 49ers general manager Terry Donahue says. Joseph says he sent in the necessary paper work and plans to contest the decision. 'We voided the contract. There's an issue now as to whether or not the void was effective,' he says. Any appeal will involve evidence from both sides presented before a special master.



REPLAY: THE WEEK IN REVIEW