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Dodo suspended for doping
Brazilian striker Dodo, who plays for league leaders Botafogo, bas been provisionally suspended for 30 days after testing positive for a banned substance, his club confirmed on Sunday. The 33-year-old, who earned five caps for Brazil early in his career, tested positive on June 14 after using a dieting product which contained banned substances. He was tested after his team's 4-0 win over Vasco de Gama in which he scored twice. Dodo is the second top scorer in the Brazilian league this season with seven goals in 10 matches.
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Celebration proves fatal
A Vietnamese man was killed in a road accident as he drove his motorbike through Hanoi to celebrate his country's Asian Cup victory over the United Arab Emirates, police said yesterday. The man died late on Sunday when he crashed into a traffic sign. His male passenger was in serious condition in hospital, police said. Hanoi residents poured into the streets on Sunday after Vietnam's 2-0 win over the Gulf Cup champions before a raucous home crowd.
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Chelsea land Malouda
Chelsea have succeeded in their bid to lure Lyon winger Florent Malouda to Stamford Bridge, the French club's president announced on Sunday. "The London club is completely in agreement with the amount we're looking for. I'm waiting for a confirmation e-mail from Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon," Jean-Michel Aulas told Lyon's television channel OLTV. "It's fantastic and great news for Florent. I've just phoned him and he's going to be able to leave tonight to undergo a medical in London on Monday." Kenyon had said this week he was hoping to wrap up the signing worth 20 million euros (US$27.2 million) before Jose Mourinho's squad fly out to Los Angeles today for their pre-season tour.
■ RUGBY UNION
South Africa call up Britz
Western Stormers utility forward Gerrie Britz has been called up to the South Africa squad in place of injured skipper Bob Skinstad. The veteran No 8, who led the Springboks against Australia in a Tri-Nations Test in Sydney on Saturday, has a broken rib and is on his way home facing a fight to be fully fit in time for the World Cup in September. South Africa play their final southern hemisphere rugby championship match against New Zealand in Christchurch this weekend. With Springboks coach Jake White leaving 20 of his leading players home to stay fresh and recover from injuries before the World Cup, the tourists will face an uphill battle against the All Blacks. White's biggest headache now is to find a new captain. He said he will look to the Northern Bulls pair of hooker Gary Botha and flanker Wikus van Heerden, and Coastal Sharks lock Johann Muller for his new captain.
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Violence mars cup tie
The Intertoto Cup match between Vetra FC and Legia Warsaw was abandoned at half-time on Sunday after Polish fans stormed the field and clashed with riot police. Vetra were leading 2-0 when hundreds of Legia Warsaw fans ran onto the field during the break, trying to tear down the goal nets and vandalizing billboards. Lithuanian TV pictures showed police in riot gear using tear gas to disperse the hooligans. One officer received minor injuries, and about 100 fans were arrested, Lithuanian police said. The referee immediately abandoned the match and it was not immediately clear whether the result would stand.
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