Christiano Ronaldo completed a sweep of soccer’s top individual honors for 2008, winning the World Player of the Year award. Ronaldo, a Portuguese winger, led Manchester United to the Premier League and Champions League titles in May.
Earlier this year he had won the Ballon D’Or as the European player of the year and World Soccer magazine’s player of the year.Brazil’s Marta won the women’s award for the third year in a row. She earlier announced she is joining the Los Angeles Sol in the Women’s Professional Soccer League.
Royals invite five for spring-The Royals signed five players to minor-league contracts with invitations to big-league spring training, including catcher John Suomi, who spent last season in the Phillies organization. He was acquired by the Royals in last month’s Rule 5 draft.
The other players with invititations to big-league camp: outfielder Derrick Robinson, 21; outfielder Jose Duarte, 23, who hit .250 with 28 stolen bases for Class AA Northwest Arkansas; catcher Cody Clark, 27, who hit .184 in 40 games for Northwest Arkansas; and catcher Jeff Howell, 25, who hit .259 for Class A Wilmington.
Other baseball news-The AL champion Tampa Bay Rays bolstered depth and right-handed hitting by signing Gabe Kapler to a one-year deal. In 96 games with Milwaukee last year he hit .301 with eight homers.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia signed a contract extension through 2018 though he could opt out of the contract in 2015 if he chooses.Japanese all-star pitcher Kenshi Kawakami was in Atlanta for a physical needed to make final an agreement with the team. He has won 112 games in 11 seasons in Japan. He could provide depth on a squad that lost John Smoltz and Mike Hampton and could be without Tim Hudson.
Smaller engines coming?Roger Penske, whose Indy-car racing team has more Indianapolis 500 victories than any other, predicted Monday that in the next four or five years they would be running four-cylinder, turbocharged engines in the Indy Car series and possibly in NASCAR as well. As changes occur in the auto industry, smaller, more fuel-efficient engines will be the target.
Safina and Serena both win-Dinara Safina and Serena Williams each won today and moved into the quarterfinals at the Sydney (Australia) International tennis tournament. Williams defeated Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 in 50 minutes. Fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva withdrew because of a stomach ailment.
Robby Ginepri and Sam Querrey of the U.S. each beat New Zealand wild-card opponents, reaching the second round of the Heineken Open in Aukland, N.Z.In Kooyoung (Australia) former No. 1 Marat Safin withdrew from an eight-man exhibition that includes Roger Federer.
Tiger swinging his driver-Tiger Woods has begun playing some practice holes in his comeback from knee surgery.As I had hoped, after January 1, I started hitting longer irons and my driver,” Woods wrote on TigerWoods.com on Monday. “I’m not swinging as hard as I can, but I’m working towards that goal.”
Elsewhere-Golfer Ian Poulter has pulled out of this week’s Abu Dhabi Golf Championship to undergo corrective eye surgery. He said he had been having problems with his vision in poor light.Golfer Seve Ballesteros is walking again, according to his nephew. Ballesteros began chemotherapy Dec. 19 after brain tumor surgery.
Carlos Sainz of Spain won his third straight stage of the Dakar Rally in the Atacama desert in Chile, closing in on the overall title in the motor-sports race. He now has a 19-minute lead with six stages left. In the motorbike division, Marc Coma of Spain retained the overall lead.
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