Japan Today - Sports

Ayumi Morita beat Slovenia's Polona Hercog 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Sunday as Japan advanced to the Fed Cup World Group playoffs. Morita recovered from a sluggish start in the first set to give Japan an insurmountable 3-0 lead after Sunday's first reverse singles match of the World Group II…

Forced to play away from home due to escalating unrest, Syria stunned Asian heavyweight Japan 2-1 Sunday to boost its chances of qualifying for the London Olympics. Meanwhile, Australia continued its dismal run in qualifying by losing 2-0 to Uzbekistan in Group B, failing to score for a third consecutive…

Akito Watabe won Sunday's individual Nordic combined World Cup race here, timing 28min, 27.8sec to push Norway's Mikko Kokslien into second place by 3sec with Bill Demong of the United States third at 3.9 seconds.

Japan-based Kenyan runner Harun Njoroge improved his personal best time by more than two minutes to win the Beppu Oita marathon on Sunday. The 23-year-old Njoroge, who won the Hokkaido marathon in August, started to take the lead over Ethiopia's Yakob Jarso shortly before the 37-kilometer point to cross the…

There won't be many surprises for viewers who follow the ads during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast. About 20 of the roughly 36 Super Bowl advertisers put their TV commercials online before Sunday. That's a major shift: It's up from last year when only a handful of companies released their ads…

Kimiko Date-Krumm and Ayumi Morita both won on Saturday to give Japan a 2-0 lead over Slovenia in a Fed Cup World Group II tie. Date-Krumm beat Polona Hercog 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first match and Morita gave Japan a 2-0 lead with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over…

Frank Halai scored two first-half tries as New Zealand overwhelmed Fii 24-7 on Saturday to win the New Zealand leg of the World Sevens Series for the second straight year. Halai touched down twice within two minutes as New Zealand scored four tries to race to a 24-0 halftime lead.…

Big deals collapsed in the final hours, an unknown Korean was plucked from obscurity and some big names were put on the unwanted list, completing a tumultuous time for Asian soccer players during Europe's January transfer window. The most eagerly anticipated move never happened as the transfer of Keisuke Honda,…

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded Japanese broadcast rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics to a national consortium on Friday in a deal worth 36 billion yen ($472 million). The Japan Consortium includes state broadcaster NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters of Japan. Four years ago, the…

Japanese auto manufacturer Honda is to enter a team in the FIA World Touring Car Championship from October, the company announced on Friday. It will race its new Civic beginning with the Japanese rounds on Oct 20-21 at the Suzuka circuit, the 10th leg of the 12-leg championship series, it…

New Zealand and South Africa set the pace on the opening day of the fourth leg of the IRB Sevens World series on Friday emerging as the only teams to win all three of their pool matches. Canada and Tonga, meanwhile, proved to be the giantkillers on the opening day…

Japanese driver Takuma Sato signed IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing on Friday. Sato competed in Formula One from 2002 to 2008 before moving to IndyCar in 2010 and drove for KV Racing the last two years. "Rahal-Letterman Racing has a proud tradition and I look forward to driving for…

Superstar singer Madonna promised no wardrobe malfunctions for her Super Bowl 46 half-time show, saying she has never worked so hard on preparing for a performance. The self-styled "Material Girl" promised she would not have a half-time clothing mishap such as the one that took place at the 2004 Super…

An artistic gymnastics World Cup scheduled in Tokyo less than four months before the London Olympics has been canceled because a broadcast deal fell through. The International Gymnastics Federation says Japanese organizers would sustain "weighty financial consequences" if the planned April 14-15 event went ahead without television coverage. FIG cited…

Angelo Dundee, who is best known for the more than two decades he spent as boxer Muhammad Ali's trainer, has died. He was 90. Dundee worked with 15 world champions, including Sugar Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Jimmy Ellis but it is his work with Ali that stands out the…

Later this month, that bastion of bash-‘em-ups, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), makes a long-awaited appearance in Japan, giving fans an opportunity to see some of the best fighters in the world, including the latest incarnation of B.A. Baracus in the flesh. The Japanese fight scene hasn’t been quite the…

Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda will stay at CSKA Moscow after their talks with Serie-A side Lazio over his transfer collapsed, news reports said Wednesday. The Russian outfit were asking 16 million euro ($21 million) from Lazio, but the Italian side's offer fell short as the winter transfer window closed on…

FIFA will make a final ruling on the possible introduction of goal-line technology at a special meeting on July 2, world soccer's governing body confirmed on Wednesday. FIFA said the decision would be made at a special meeting of soccer's rules making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), to…

Japanese teenager Ryo Miyaichi has left Arsenal to join fellow Premier League team Bolton on loan until the end of the season. Miyaichi has only played two matches for Arsenal this season, both of them coming as a substitute in League Cup matches. The 19-year-old winger joined the London club…

No tickets for the 2012 Olympics? Don't despair: You don't need one to enjoy the games and the party atmosphere in London this summer. Although most sporting events take place in ticketed Olympic venues, there is plenty to see and do elsewhere in the run-up to and during the games.…