The Buzz | Ochoa takes first-round lead
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Golf: Ochoa has first-round lead
Lorena Ochoa shot a 66 on Thursday and has a 1-shot lead over Reilley Rankin after the first round of the LPGA’s season-ending Tour Championship in Richmond, Texas. Michelle Wie shot a 72. She withdrew after hobbling around the course on a sprained left ankle. The first round was suspended because of darkness with four threesomes on the course.
•Robert Allenby of Australia shot a 7-under 65 for a 1-shot lead after the first round of the Dubai World Championship, the final event of the European Tour season, while Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy vied for the European Tour money title and a $1.5 million bonus.
Irish: ‘Oui were robbed’
Ireland appealed to France and FIFA on Thursday to replay their World Cup playoff after an obvious hand ball by Thierry Henry set up the deciding goal. France advanced to next year’s World Cup on total goals. The French union representing the nation’s gym teachers declared outrage at what it called “indisputable cheating.”
Semenya keeps gold medal
South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential, the South African sports ministry said. The International Association of Athletics Federations was mum, raising the question of whether she remains eligible to compete as a woman.
Auto racing: Power gets ride
Penske Racing has hired 28-year-old Australian Will Power to drive full time next year after giving the Indy Racing League driver a part-time gig last season. He will drive the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Dallara/Honda.
•Rusty Wallace Racing is moving its Nationwide Series team from Chevrolet to Toyota next season.
Elsewhere
•U.S. skier Resi Stiegler was hospitalized after injuring her left knee when she crashed after hooking a gate during giant slalom training Thursday in Copper Mountain, Colo.
•The Yankees’ Andy Pettitte and the Mets’ Fernando Tatis became the final of 171 players to file for free-agency this year.
•The California State Athletic Commission has assigned a Swedish judge to Andre Ward’s fight against Mikkel Kessler, clearing up a dispute over the neutrality of the officiating crew at Saturday’s WBA super middleweight title bout.
| Star News Services
FIFA - For the good of the game The Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Irish Minister for Sport, Taoiseach and Facebook social network groups are requesting a replay of the controversial FIFA World Cup play-off between Ireland and France in the interests of Fair Play. The FAI lodged an appeal with FIFA and also contacted the French Football Federation (FFF), it appears FAI hopes FFF may agree that a replay is fair play. Both captians, Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, have called for a replay. 

The Irish supporters, who in the past have won the FIFA Fair Play Award, are angry after a blatant double handball by Thierry Henry enabled France to score the extra-time goal that cost Ireland entry to next year’s FIFA World Cup finals in South Africa. Most Irish anger has been directed at FIFA, although French captain Thierry Henry has admitted handling the ball. 

FAI has argued that there is a strong precedent; in 2005 where FIFA invalidated the result of a FIFA World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain on the basis of a technical error by the match referee. However, Law 5 of the Laws of the Game state that: "The decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final." and a source at Fifa headquarters in Switzerland said that “there is no way the game can be replayed”. The generic concept of fair play is a fundamental part of the game of football and the Fair Play Campaign was conceived largely as an indirect result of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, when the handball goal by Diego Maradona.

The referee Martin Hansson and (referee's assistants) Stefan Wittberg and Fredrik Nilsson were unable to see the incident but didn't ask Thierry Henry if he handled the ball. Its hoped the mistake won't cost the Swedish referee's a place in South Africa. FIFA's Fair play policy is playing by the rules, using common sense and respecting fellow players, referees, opponents and fans. The French union representing the nation’s gym teachers declared outrage at what it called “indisputable cheating.”

Minister for Sport Martin Cullen wrote to FIFA president Sepp Blatter urging him to call a rematch in the interests of fair play. Taoiseach Brian Cowen raised the issue with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the fringes of last night’s EU summit. French Prime minister François Fillon said “neither the French government nor the Irish Government should interfere in the functioning of the international federation”.