Sports Shorts

Perth star Erin McGowan is the new WBO female 135 champion. Erin showed brilliance and superstar potential with a near-flawless performance last night over the United Kingdom's Lindsey Scragg at the Arena Jundaloop here in front of a raucous crowd that came to cheer for their fighter. McGowan worked behind a crisp jab, and surprised everyone when she took the fight to Scragg instead of just using her height and reach advantage to cruise to a victory. The undefeated McGowan proved the busier and stronger fighter in this exciting and explosive 10-round dukeout which had the crowd on their feet throughout.

By winning his third crown in 2010, Roger Federer matched Pete Sampras in career ATP titles at 64. The Swiss is now targeting John McEnroe’s 77 for the No. 3 spot. At the If Stockholm Open, Federer found himself down a break at 4-3 in the final to Florian Mayer until the German admitted that situation got into his head. After consecutive weeks in Shanghai and now Stockholm, Federer now has a week of rest before his home Basel tennis event begins next Monday.

Lote Tuqiri has played in World Cups in two codes, contested State of Origin deciders and tasted NRL premiership success during his 11 years as a professional footballer. But the veteran winger still found himself in a "dream state" when his name was read out in Australia's starting line-up for Sunday's Four Nations match against Papua New Guinea. The selection means the 31-year-old is the first player to earn selection as a Kangaroo, then a Wallaby, before returning to rugby league's international stage with Australia.

Former BYU player Ben Cahoon, 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, is one of only nine professional football players to catch more than 1,000 passes in a career (see chart), and only the second to do it in the CFL. Heading into an Oct. 10 game against the Calgary Stampeders, he needed four catches to surpass Terry Vaughn's CFL career record of 1,006. He made the fourth catch with five minutes left in the game, hauling in another pass from Anthony Calvilo, the former Utah State quarterback who arrived in Montreal the same year as Cahoon.

Chelsea are planning to test the resolve of Liverpool's new owners by making a fresh bid for Spain striker Fernando Torres in the Barclays Premier League January transfer window. Liverpool rejected an offer of £25 million ($40.2m) for the Spain striker last northern summer, but Chelsea are hoping to exploit the regime change at Anfield and the team's poor start to the season by signing one of their prized assets. Torres professed his loyalty to Liverpool in a prearranged statement in August, but his commitment is contingent on the club challenging for the biggest trophies, which are already looking out of reach this season as the Reds are languishing in 19th place.

While Sonny Bill Williams will be forever grateful to former Toulon coach Tana Umaga and the club's colourful owner, Mourad Boudjellal, for the opportunity and support they gave him in adapting to the new code, Williams's development has accelerated at a rate faster than even he anticipated since his move to New Zealand. In just five national provincial competition appearances for Canterbury, the 25-year-old has confounded his critics with a devastating attacking style that convinced New Zealand selectors to choose him in a 30-man squad for this weekend's Bledisloe Cup match against Australia in Hong Kong and the end-of-season European tour. Should he make his Test debut on tour, Williams will become only the second Kiwi league international to switch codes and represent the country in rugby union.