Sport Shorts

* MOHALI – Indian leg spinner Anil Kumble grabbed three wickets to reduce England to 112 for five in their second innings and leave them facing defeat on the fourth day of the rain-hit second test yesterday.

The sixth-wicket pair of captain Andrew Flintoff (16) and Geraint Jones (1) were together with the visitors only 74 runs ahead. The 35-year-old Kumble, who grabbed five for 76 in the first innings to claim 500 test scalps on Saturday, triggered a collapse on a Mohali pitch affording unpredictable bounce.Kumble had figures of three for 41.He dismissed opener Andrew Strauss (13) then switched ends to send back in-form Paul Collingwood (14) and the well-set Ian Bell (57) as England caved in under pressure.Paceman Munaf Patel began the slide to remove Alastair Cook (2) cheaply while the aggressive Kevin Pietersen (4) was unlucky to be given out.India took a vital 38-run lead before they were 338 all out in their first innings when early tea was called, then piled on the pressure by drying up the runs.* NAGOYA – Veteran Harumi Hiroyama enjoyed her first career victory after staging a come-from-behind win beating fellow Japanese Yoko Shibui at the Nagoya international women’s marathon yesterday.The 37-year-old Hiroyama, who at one point was more than 100 metres behind front-running Shibui, caught up with the pace with one kilometre left before crossing the finishing line in two hours, 23 minutes and 26 seconds.Shibui, who turns 27 tomorrow, failed to give herself an early birthday present, finishing second in 2:23:58 with Chika Horie completing a Japanese 1-2-3 finish in 2:28:01.* LONDON – Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger revealed Sunday that he would love to entice Real Madrid’s England captain David Beckham to join his London outfit.Wenger said that even 30-year-old Beckham’s superstar status would not prove a handicap to his fitting in at the Premiership side.”The only baggage here is his stardom status.That’s not a problem,” Wenger was quoted as saying in the News of the World.”Of course I would take him with all his baggage.I personally believe that Beckham has no big baggage.”Wenger added: “We’re not desperate to buy anybody.But if you find an exceptional player who can add a little class where we need it, we’ll do it.He could be one of them.”* SEOUL – Gert Thys of South Africa won the Seoul International Marathon yesterday, grabbing the men’s title for a third time in the South Korean race.The 34-year-old veteran marathon runner crossed the finishing line in two hours, 10 minutes and 40 seconds, the organising committee said.Thys won the Seoul marathon in 2003 and in 2004 when he set a record of 2:07:06.Jason Mbote of Kenya came in second in 2:11:40 yesterday, followed by Araya Haregot of Ethiopia in 2:11:56.- Nampa-Reuters, AFPThe 35-year-old Kumble, who grabbed five for 76 in the first innings to claim 500 test scalps on Saturday, triggered a collapse on a Mohali pitch affording unpredictable bounce.Kumble had figures of three for 41.He dismissed opener Andrew Strauss (13) then switched ends to send back in-form Paul Collingwood (14) and the well-set Ian Bell (57) as England caved in under pressure.Paceman Munaf Patel began the slide to remove Alastair Cook (2) cheaply while the aggressive Kevin Pietersen (4) was unlucky to be given out.India took a vital 38-run lead before they were 338 all out in their first innings when early tea was called, then piled on the pressure by drying up the runs.* NAGOYA – Veteran Harumi Hiroyama enjoyed her first career victory after staging a come-from-behind win beating fellow Japanese Yoko Shibui at the Nagoya international women’s marathon yesterday.The 37-year-old Hiroyama, who at one point was more than 100 metres behind front-running Shibui, caught up with the pace with one kilometre left before crossing the finishing line in two hours, 23 minutes and 26 seconds.Shibui, who turns 27 tomorrow, failed to give herself an early birthday present, finishing second in 2:23:58 with Chika Horie completing a Japanese 1-2-3 finish in 2:28:01.* LONDON – Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger revealed Sunday that he would love to entice Real Madrid’s England captain David Beckham to join his London outfit.Wenger said that even 30-year-old Beckham’s superstar status would not prove a handicap to his fitting in at the Premiership side.”The only baggage here is his stardom status.That’s not a problem,” Wenger was quoted as saying in the News of the World.”Of course I would take him with all his baggage.I personally believe that Beckham has no big baggage.”Wenger added: “We’re not desperate to buy anybody.But if you find an exceptional player who can add a little class where we need it, we’ll do it.He could be one of them.”* SEOUL – Gert Thys of South Africa won the Seoul International Marathon yesterday, grabbing the men’s title for a third time in the South Korean race.The 34-year-old veteran marathon runner crossed the finishing line in two hours, 10 minutes and 40 seconds, the organising committee said.Thys won the Seoul marathon in 2003 and in 2004 when he set a record of 2:07:06.Jason Mbote of Kenya came in second in 2:11:40 yesterday, followed by Araya Haregot of Ethiopia in 2:11:56.- Nampa-Reuters, AFP