■ Violence
Police detain drunken fans
Up to 100 England supporters were detained in Stuttgart overnight for mostly drunken and aggressive behavior as they gathered for today's second-round World Cup match with Ecuador, police said yesterday. A spokesman for Stuttgart police, Stefan Keilback, said 113 fans were held in the center of the city after drinking heavily and throwing tables and bottles. "There were no hooligans, just drunk people," he said.
■ South Korea
Man booked after threat
A 44-year-old South Korean soccer fan was booked here yesterday after inquiring about the phone number of the Swiss embassy, saying he would blow it up, police said. The man, identified only by his family name Kim, called the emergency hotline used to report crimes and asked for the number after Switzerland beat South Korea 2-0 and knocked them out of the World Cup. "What's the number of the Swiss embassy? I will blow it up," he was quoted as saying when he called the hotline. He is expected to have to pay hundreds of dollars in fines.
■ Germany
`The Kaiser' ties the knot
World Cup organizer Franz Beckenbauer, winner of the competition as player and coach, took time out to get married to Heidi Burmesteron on Friday, mass daily Bild reported in its online edition yesterday. The paper said the pair had tied the knot in the village of Oberndorf near Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol where Beckenbauer has a home, several weeks after saying they wanted a quiet day without any stress. "They said `I do' at half past midday," Bild reported. Beckenbauer and Heidi have a five-year-old son, Joel, and have been together for seven years.
■ South Korea
Heart attack kills fan
A soccer fan died of a suspected heart attack yesterday while watching his country play their crucial match against Switzerland at a massive, pre-dawn street rally in Seoul, police said. The 25-year-old college student, identified only by his surname, Kim, collapsed abruptly around 5:10am while watching the game on large outdoor screens in downtown Seoul, said an officer at the Namdaemun Police Station. Kim was taken immediately to hospital, but died, the officer said. Police believe a heart attack must have been the cause of Kim's death, because his father said the son suffered from high blood pressure, the officer said. Kim was among more than 100,000 red-clad fans gathered in front of Seoul City Hall.
■ United Kingdom
Goalie's medal found
Police investigating the theft of thousands of dollars of soccer memorabilia from the home of Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek have recovered his Champions League shirt and medal, they said on Friday. Police said they raided a house in the Old Swan area of Liverpool, Northwest England, earlier on Friday and arrested two people -- a man, aged 26, and a 23-year-old woman -- on suspicion of burglary and handling stolen goods. The break-in happened at some point last week at the 32-year-old player's house while he was visiting his native Poland.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but