■ Spain
Ronaldo going nowhere
Real Madrid coach Fabio Capello warned Milan and Inter Milan on Thursday that Brazilian World Cup star Ronaldo would be staying in Spain. "I don't think there is any possibility that Ronaldo is going to Milan or Inter," Capello told a press conference. The two Italian clubs have been linked with a move for Ronaldo with Inter tipped as favorites having once employed the player before his switch to Spain. "I have a great respect for Ronaldo," said Inter president Massimo Moratti. "But we have enough players in his position already." Ronaldo, 29, has a contract at Real until June 2008.
■ Italy
Baggio converted me: Frey
Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastien Frey revealed on Thursday that former Italian superstar Roberto Baggio helped him convert to Buddhism. Frenchman Frey said that his conversion helped him to cope when he was frustratingly sidelined with a serious left knee injury suffered in January. "During my period of convalescence, I had moments of doubt," Frey said. "I was looking for something to cling to. I spoke with Baggio many times and I became a Buddhist. It fascinates me. I asked his advice and he told me of this life philosophy. As I was initiated, I felt I became more serene and much stronger. I'm very happy with the choice that I've made." Baggio, who once played at Fiorentina, converted to Buddhism at the end of the 1980s.
■ England
Pompey sign Kanu
Veteran Nigerian striker Kanu became Portsmouth's fifth summer signing on Thursday when he agreed a one-year-deal at Fratton Park. The 31-year-old was part of Arsenal's double-winning side of 2001-02 and gained another Premiership title medal in 2004. He scored 37 goals during his stay at Highbury. Kanu left West Brom in the summer following the Midlanders' relegation from the Premiership.
■ England
Chelsea accuse former owner
English champions Chelsea have filed a complaint with the Football Association (FA) against former owner Ken Bates, accusing him of bringing the game into disrepute. The club said Bates, now chairman of Leeds United, had made "rude, insulting and inappropriate comments" when he accused Chelsea two weeks ago of making illegal approaches to players. Bates, who sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, said he was reporting the London club to the FA for making illegal approaches to sign Tom Taiwo and Michael Wood and when attempting to sign Daniel Rose from second division Leeds. "There are football procedures in place to deal with that specific dispute," Chelsea said in a statement on Thursday. "Chelsea will comply with those, will not discuss the case publicly other than our previously stated position and will contest it vigorously. However there are also existing football rules that prohibit rude, insulting and inappropriate comments being made about other club owners, chairmen and personnel." Chelsea said Bates had made a reference to Chelsea's directors that was "discriminatory ... in terms of race, nationality and religion." The statement added, "Such comments have no place in football, a sport which is rightly committed to fighting racial intolerance and bigotry."
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