■ Egypt
Defender dies while training
Egyptian international defender Mohammed Abdel Wahab died of a heart attack while training with his club, champions Al-Ahly, on Thursday. The 22-year-old collapsed on the pitch and was immediately transferred to a nearby hospital but resuscitation efforts failed. The young defender won all national and continental awards with his Cairo club and was also part of the squad that won the African Cup of Nations in February. "He did not clash with another player, he just fell to the ground," a club spokesman told the BBC. Wahab's death comes three years after Cameroon international midfielder Marc Vivien Foe collapsed and died during a 2003 Confederations Cup semi-final in France.
■ Italy
Juve withdraws appeal
Juventus has decided to withdraw its appeal to an ordinary court in the Italian match-fixing scandal, bringing relief to soccer authorities. Juventus said on Thursday its board had decided to give up the appeal after receiving "signals of willingness" from sports officials to resolve the situation fairly. Juventus has had meetings with soccer and other sports officials in Rome throughout the week. A July 25 sports tribunal ruling stripped Juventus of its last two Serie A titles and relegated the club to the second division with a 17-point penalty.
■ Germany
Shoe battle settled
The national team's soccer players won the right to wear the shoes of their choice on Thursday after a bitter dispute with their federation. Adidas, which has outfitted the Germany team for decades, agreed to let the players chose their own shoes even as it extended its contract with the German Soccer Federation until 2014. The players threatened to boycott a 3-0 friendly win against Sweden two weeks ago, angry because they felt a promise was broken to meet their demands. The fight to break the Adidas monopoly was led by a group of top players with contracts with other sports manufacturers.
■ England
Welsh team in plane scare
An airplane carrying the Welsh national soccer team was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday because of a cracked windscreen. The chartered plane took off from Cardiff, Wales, at 2:30pm and landed 30 minutes later in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England. The flight, which was carrying the Wales squad, coaching staff and officials, was bound for Prague, Czech Republic, for the team's 2008 European Championship qualifier against the Czechs today. Wales FA spokesman Ceri Stennett said passengers felt a jolt and could feel the plane descending quickly. "But there was no panic, the players travel by plane a lot and they handled it well," Stennett said. "But I must admit it was a bit unnerving."
Zhang in flying fish flop
Hoping for a birdie, top Chinese golfer Zhang Lianwei (張連偉) found a fish instead. Zhang was in mid-swing at a Chinese Omega Tour event on Thursday when a hefty carp decided to perform some out-of-water acrobatics beside the 14th hole at the Grand Shanghai course. Startled, Zhang muffed the shot and took a bogey on the hole rather than the intended birdie. He shot a 69 for the round, ending the day in a five-way tie for first at the Shandong Leg event. "I thought someone had thrown a huge stone into the water," said the 41-year-old Zhang, a pioneer of Chinese professional golf and the first Chinese player to appear in the Masters at Augusta in 2004.
■ NFL
Anderson stays with Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals signed Willie Anderson to a five-year contract extension that will keep the right tackle with the National Football League club through 2011. Financial terms of the deal were not released, but reports have the extension worth around US$32 million. Anderson's current deal was to expire at the end of the upcoming season. "This is a huge move and commitment on our part and I'm obviously excited about it," Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis said. "It's great to know that one of our fine players and real team leaders is committed to be a part of our team for the long term."
■ Auto racing
Prize ceremony sparks row
Turkish Grand Prix organizers will face a disciplinary hearing after a controversial prize-giving ceremony at last Sunday's race drew complaints from Cyprus. The race organizers will be joined by the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation for the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council on Sept. 19 in Paris, FIA said on Thursday. The meeting will "hear charges that they have acted in breach of FIA Statutes, the International Sporting Code and the 2006 Formula One Sporting Regulations." The race's winner, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, received the prize from Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat. The government of Cyprus was angered by organizers introducing Talat as president of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state -- which only Turkey recognizes -- in the north of the war-divided island.
■ Cycling
Ullrich, T-Mobile reach deal
Jan Ullrich reached an agreement with T-Mobile to end his contract after having been fired by the team amid doping allegations. The 1997 Tour de France winner was let go on July 21 as a result of being linked to a widespread doping scandal in Spain centered around Madrid doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. "Jan Ullrich and T-Mobile have ended their negotiations and agreed on an early end to his rider's contract," Ullrich's Web site said. The 32-year-old German had threatened T-Mobile with court action after the team fired him.
■ Cricket
Truth will out, Inzamam says
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is confident his team will be cleared of ball tampering charges he described as concocted and unjustified. "Different stories are circulating after the Oval Test fiasco, but I have no doubt we will be cleared and the truth will come out soon," he wrote in his Urdu-language column in Daily Jang yesterday. "[Umpire Darrell] Hair laid out a web to involve the Pakistan team in controversy and ball tampering. ... In time everyone will know who is telling the truth and who did injustice with who," Inzamam said in the column.
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