ManU Manager ALEX FERGUSON "has reacted to stories that this could be his final season" in charge of ManU by insisting he will remain at Old Trafford for "a bit of time." Ferguson, who turned 71 on Monday and celebrated 26 years on the job in November, said, "It’s been a great journey for me but being manager of Manchester United, you have to kick on. You can’t look back. The drive is always on to do better" (London TELEGRAPH, 1/2). ... K-League club Incheon United former President AHN JONG-BOX said that he will "declare his candidacy for the top job of South Korea's FA next week." He "is likely to face off against" K-League President CHUNG MONG-GYU and Korea FA former VP HEO SEUNG-PYO for the job (KOREA TIMES, 12/29). ... Japan's four-time Olympic swimming champion KOSUKE KITAJIMA revealed his engagement to 27-year-old pop singer CHISA, who is the vocalist of the Girl Next Door trio (AFP, 1/2). ... Mexican race walker NOE HERNANDEZ, 34, who won Silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics "was in a serious but stable condition after being shot at the Queen of Kings nightclub in Mexico state." Three gunmen "burst into the club and opened fire on revellers." Hernandez works as sports secretary for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in the state (SKY NEWS, 1/1). ... Former NBA player MARCUS WILLIAMS "recorded the first doping case" in the Chinese Basketball Association after being tested positive for marijuana. The headline on Chinese website Sina.com read, "The first doping case in CBA as Marcus banned for six months." The CBA also fined Williams' team Shanxi Zhongyu 10,000 yuan ($1,500) (XINHUA, 1/1).
CRICKET IN THE NEWS: Australia cricketer GLENN MCGRATH will be inducted into the Int'l Cricket Council Hall of Fame on Friday and joins fellow '12-13 inductees West Indies' BRIAN LARA and England's ENID BAKEWELL. McGrath will be inducted at his home ground of the Sydney Cricket Ground (ICC). ... Andhra Cricket Association Honorary Treasurer and Vizianagaram District Cricket Association Organizing Secretary P. APPALA RAJU, who died at a hospital on Tuesday morning, two days before his 80th birthday, "was associated with the game of cricket as a player and later as an administrator for several decades" and was active until very recently (THE HINDU, 1/2).
