■ Ghana
Brazil goal kills fan
A soccer fan died suddenly as his country conceded their first goal against Brazil in Tuesday's second round clash. Richard Amenawu, 25, fainted and collapsed as Real Madrid's Ronaldo scored the first in champions Brazil's 3-0 victory over the last remaining African side in the tournament. The young man was watching the match on a screen installed in the train station at Takoradi. He was taken to hospital but could not be revived.
■ Germany
Barge hits giant screen
A giant screen set up in the middle of the River Main in Frankfurt to show the World Cup had a narrow escape when it was struck by a Dutch barge more than 170m long. Police said the 65-year-old Dutch captain of the vessel went the wrong way under a bridge ahead of the screen and collided with it early on Thursday. The screen has attracted more than a million spectators since the tournament began on June 9, said Tourism + Congress GmbH Frankfurt, which put up the display. Tourism + Congress Managing Director Guenter Hampel said only the frame had been dented, however. "[The dent is] a bit like a souvenir. People are coming to have their pictures taken next to it."
■ Germany
Klinsmann Street unveiled
The town where the national team's coach grew up has named a street after him. Juergen Klinsmann's team faced Argentina in a tough World Cup quarter-final yesterday. But the Southwestern town of Geislingen saw no need to wait for him to deliver the trophy before honoring him. On Thursday, the new "Juergen-Klinsmann-Weg" street sign was unveiled on a street that runs alongside the local soccer team's stadium, town spokeswoman Angela Rosenberger said. Klinsmann was captain of the Germany team that won the 1990 World Cup final. Mayor Wolfgang Amann convinced the town council to honor Klinsmann on Wednesday night, prompted by the initiative of a local radio station.
■ Astrology
Stargazers back Germany
Hosts Germany beat two-time champions Argentina in yesterday's lipsmacking World Cup quarter-final, according to the German astrologers' federation. However it won't be all one way traffic as the astrologers predict Argentina will have a good phase -- between the 7th and 14th minutes with a chance of a goal in that time. "The match's horoscope shows a slight advantage for Germany but the Argentinians will also have some good phases of play," said Christoph Schubert-Weller, president of the federation. Germany will according to the esteemed stargazer hit the Argentines with a goal at the end of the first-half. However, he warned the Germans that they must be wary of extra-time as the astrologer gave himself a get out clause by saying that "luck sometimes makes the difference."
■ Hospitality
Hotels moan of poor takings
Only 48 percent of hotels and restaurants in Germany say they are happy with World Cup turnover. A poll for the Infratest marketing organization on behalf of the German tourism authority said that operators were finding that the tournament had not brought the rich pickings they had been expecting. However, earlier in the World Cup hotels said they had seen a higher than normal level of visitors across April and May.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier