Nippon Professional Baseball team Yomiuri Giants infielder MICHIHIRO OGASAWARA agreed to a ¥360M ($4.4M) pay cut when he signed a deal for ¥70M ($848,000) on Wednesday, "the biggest cut in Japanese baseball history." The 39-year-old played in 34 games, his fewest since his rookie season in '97, and batted .152, also a career low. Ogasawara was in the final year of a two-year deal worth ¥430M ($5.2M) a year (KYODO, 12/6). ... KATIE TAYLOR "has been named the Int'l Boxing Association ambassador for women's boxing worldwide" ahead of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games (RTE, 12/8).
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...: German field hockey player MORITZ FUERSTE won the Int'l Hockey Federation's (FIH) Player of the Year award. Fuerste was the captain of the German national team that won the Gold Medal at the London Games. Fuerste's teammate FLORIAN FUCHS was selected as the Young Player of the Year (FIH). ... The celebration of female industry input "honored BBC Presenter CLARE BALDING, Dir of Sport BARBARA SLATER and Olympics Opening Ceremony Producer TRACEY SEAWARD" at this year's Women in Film and TV Awards. Balding "picked up the ITV Studios Achievement of the Year award for her presenting duties during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games over the summer." Seaward, who produced the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony "was presented the ENVY producer award by Dir DANNY BOYLE" while Slater "picked up the Creative Skillset inspirational woman award for overseeing coverage of the London Olympics and her ongoing work promoting women’s sport" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 12/7).
