TOKYO (AP) _ Hideki Matsui gave Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a Yankees warmup jacket and an autographed bat after accepting the Japan Professional Sports Award.
“He has the heart of a sportsman and the jacket looks pretty good on him,” Matsui said Tuesday.
Koizumi, in a break between parliamentary sessions, presented Matsui with the award, which honors the country’s most outstanding professional athlete.
Matsui said he hoped Koizumi would attend the Yankees’ season-opening games against Tampa Bay in Tokyo on March 30-31.
Matsui batted .287 with 16 homers and 106 RBIs to help the Yankees to the World Series in his rookie season last year. The former Yomiuri Giants slugger was a three-time MVP of Japan’s Central League before signing with the Yankees last winter.
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SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ Boxer Tony Ayala Jr. avoided a prison term for a probation violation and was ordered by a judge to get a job.
The 40-year-old former middleweight contender was placed under 24-hour house arrest until he can show the court he has found employment. He will be subjected to spot checks for the next six months and must wear an ankle bracelet for the next three.
Ayala is 20 pounds overweight and hasn’t set foot in a gym since he was beaten in a bout in April.
“It can’t get any worse,” Ayala said in Tuesday’s San Antonio Express-News.
Ayala was given 10 years’ probation after pleading guilty in a burglary investigation in 2001. He previously served 16 years in a New Jersey prison after being convicted in 1983 of raping a schoolteacher. At the time of that conviction, Ayala was considered a rising middleweight.
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INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) _ Austrian skier Nicole Hosp will miss the rest of the World Cup season after breaking her ankle while jogging and undergoing surgery.
She was injured Monday night and was operated on that night in Innsbruck.
“Unfortunately this has been it for me for this year, but that’s life,” Hosp told the state broadcaster ORF on Tuesday. “I will do my best to recover quickly now and then start planning the 2004-5 season.”
Hosp, 20, was seventh in the overall World Cup standings. She has seven top-three finishes this season, including two wins.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Boxer Jermain Taylor sued his management group, trying to get out of the final year of a four-year contract.
He filed suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against World Class Boxing LLC seeking release from the contract.
World Class Boxing’s Michael Lauer faces other legal problems. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Lauer and his hedge-fund company, Lancer Management Group, claiming misappropriation of millions of dollars of investors’ money.
Taylor, a bronze medalist at the Sydney Olympics, is 19-0 since his professional debut, with 14 knockouts. He holds the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title.
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NEW YORK (AP) _ Beyonce Knowles will sing during halftime of next month’s NBA All-Star Game.
Beyonce, nominated for six Grammy Awards this year, will perform her hit single “Crazy in Love.”
The game will be played Feb. 15 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) _ Germany, winner of last year’s Women’s World Cup, signed an agreement with Canada that calls for exhibition games and an exchange of players.
Following the Athens Olympics, Canadian players will be invited to play in the German women’s Bundesliga while German players will be sent to W-League clubs.
The two teams will meet four times in 2005, including games on Sept. 1 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Sept. 4 in Edmonton, Alberta.
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DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) _ The Irish cabinet approved plans Tuesday to build a new national stadium.
The current stadium, which dates to 1878, holds 48,000 and is among the most antiquated in Europe. The plan envisions turning Lansdowne Road into a 50,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof by 2008.
The estimated cost is $375 million.
