■ Soccer
Keane appeal dismissed
Tottenham's Robbie Keane has had his claim for wrongful dismissal rejected by the Football Association (FA) on Tuesday. The Republic of Ireland international picked up the first red card of his professional career when he was sent-off for a deliberate handball in Sunday's 4-1 Premiership win against Bolton. Keane was furious with referee Graham Poll after his 36th-minute dismissal for handling Ivan Campo's header on the line. The ball struck Keane's chest before appearing to hit his arm as it dropped, and Poll issued a straight red card. Keane's red card marked the end an action-packed game from the Spurs' stand-in skipper -- he scored two goals and also set up Jermaine Jenas before receiving his marching orders.
■ Soccer
Flu hits Belenenses hard
Fifteen players from first division Belenenses have been hit by flu, giving the club a selection headache ahead of their midweek Portuguese Cup quarter-final tie, coach Jorge Jesus revealed on Tuesday. The Belenenses coach said they would have to call up their entire squad for Wednesday's match at third division Bragance and he would only decide who would play minutes before kick-off. "It's an unprecedented situation. Everyone will have to travel to Bragance. I hope some of the team will have recovered so that we can play our best," he said.
■ Judo
Japanese coach warns team
Japan's judo coach has told his athletes to train to the "edge of hell" or risk humiliation at next year's Beijing Olympics. A trio of Japanese Olympic gold medalists suffered embarrassing defeats at last week's Super World Cup in Hamburg, provoking a backlash from coach Hitoshi Saito. He said that veteran athletes had their own way of preparing but that they must change their mindset. "Otherwise they won't beat the world's best. They need to practice until they're bringing up bile -- until they're out of oxygen." Japan collected eight gold medals in the country's traditional martial art at the 2004 Olympics while the women won five.
■ Soccer
Bulgaria bans referees
Two referees were banned for life Tuesday by the Bulgarian soccer federation after corruption allegations. "We have information they have maintained illegal relations with some soccer clubs," executive committee member Hristo Portochanov said. He did not elaborate. Federation president Borislav Mihailov said the two referees -- Momchil Vraikov and Dimitar Dimitrov -- deserved the punishment. Mihailov did not directly confirm the referees were accused of corruption but said there were "many signals." Another three referees were suspended for a year for "making mistakes" in matches, Mihailov said.
■ Soccer
De Biasi comes back
Torino has reappointed coach Gianni De Biasi, six months after firing him. De Biasi replaced Alberto Zaccheroni on Monday following Saturday's 3-0 loss to Chievo Verona -- Torino's sixth straight defeat in the Serie A. "I'll resume from where I left on June 11, the date on which Torino was promoted to the Serie A," De Biasi was quoted as saying in Tuesday's edition of Gazzetta dello Sport. "The objective is safety." De Biasi led Torino to Italy's top division, only to be fired and replaced by Zaccheroni shortly before the start of the season. Torino is tied for 15th place in the league with 22 points, one fewer than Cagliari.
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