■ Soccer
Fans injured in clashes
At least 10 people were injured on Monday when rival soccer fans clashed before a Greek league match. Hundreds of Panathinaikos and AEK fans fought inside the Olympic stadium before the match started, breaking through police cordons and hurled rocks and flares at each other. Clashes also broke out outside the stadium. Panathinaikos is in second place in the 16-team league, while AEK is seventh.
■ Soccer
Valencia captain injured
Spanish giants Valencia will be without captain David Albelda for between six and eight weeks, the club revealed on Sunday night. Albelda, 29, suffered a severe sprain to his right knee in Sunday's 1-0 home win over Osasuna, damaging the internal lateral ligament. He will not need an operation but will need around two months of rest and physio-therapy. But that means Valencia's captain will miss the club's last three Champions League group D matches. Valencia are top of that group with nine points. They are also joint top of the Spanish "Liga" on 16 points with Barcelona, though Barca leads on goal difference. Valencia's injury list is already long this season, with Albelda now joining fellow Spanish internationals Ruben Baraja, Carlos Marchena and Vicente Rodriguez on the sidelines.
■ Soccer
Colo Colo fans banned
Colo Colo fans will not be allowed to travel as a group to the second leg of their team's Copa Sudamericana quarter-final against Gimnasia LP later this week in Buenos Aires to avoid security problems, the provincial government said on Monday. "If the Chileans come, they're not going to go in, unless they buy tickets and mix with the local public, with all the risks that implies," Mario Gallina, head of the provincial Sports Security Committee, told radio Rivadavia. But Gallina said the security of the Colo Colo players and the team delegation would be assured by local authorities.
■ Rugby Union
Tuqiri to play center
Star winger Lote Tuqiri will likely play at center in Australia's rugby Test against Wales at Cardiff on Nov.5, the first on its European tour, Wallabies coach John Connolly said yesterday. Regular center and captain Stirling Mortlock will miss the match with a knee injury and Connolly said Tuqiri will probably return to the role he filled successfully in three tests in Europe last year. "With Stirling injured, it's probably fair to think that Lote may move in one," Connolly said at the Wallabies' pre-tour camp in Sydney.
■ Football
Browns' Baker faces surgery
Cleveland Browns corner-back Gary Baxter was scheduled to undergo surgery yesterday to repair torn tendons in both knees. Baxter suffered the injury while trying to break up a pass in the first half of the Browns' 17-7 loss to Denver. Browns coach Romeo Crennel said he had never seen an injury like Baxter's in his coaching career. The Browns estimate that Baxter will be sidelined for at least one year. It is possible that he may miss the entire 2007 season.
■ Football
Merriman gets suspended
Linebacker Shawne Merriman of the San Diego Chargers, who is the league's reigning defensive rookie of the year, has been suspended for four games for violating the NFL's steroids policy. Merriman, who is appealing the suspension, registered eight tackles on Sunday in the Chargers' 30-27 loss at Kansas City. Nicknamed "Lights Out" for his propensity to deliver big hits, Merriman plays with a non-stop motor and is the leader of the San Diego defense, which entered Sunday ranked third in the NFL. Merriman, 22, has registered five-and-a-half sacks and 27 tackles in six games this season.
■ Football
Giant ruptures achilles
Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington's season ended just when he was starting to look like an impact player again. Arrington ruptured his right achilles tendon in the second quarter of the New York Giants' game against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, the club announced. In the first quarter, Arrington sacked Drew Bledsoe in the end zone for a safety. But while fighting off a block in the second quarter, Arrington fell to the ground and clutched his right ankle. After being attended to by team trainers, Arrington was carted off the field.
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