■ WALES
UEFA skeptical over plan
European soccer's governing body UEFA has expressed skepticism at controversial plans to boost Welsh involvement in the Champions League. Welsh soccer officials confirmed earlier this week that they were considering letting Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham field teams in the Welsh league while also maintaining their current positions in the English leagues. The proposals are aimed at giving Wales' top three sides a chance of reaching the qualifying stages of the Champions League at the expense of their less well-funded rivals in the Welsh league.
■ SPAIN
Mallorca tame Real Madrid
Juan Arango's second-half strike gave Real Mallorca a slender advantage after they beat Primera Liga leaders Real Madrid 2-1 at home in the first leg of their King's Cup last-16 tie on Thursday. Mallorca's Argentine striker Oscar Trejo stabbed home from close range at a corner in the 23rd minute, but two minutes later compatriot Gonzalo Higuain lashed a superb volley high into the net to level the scores. The home side had a good shout for a penalty waved away, but early in the second half Venezuelan forward Arango fired in a long range effort to put the 2003 winners back in front. Atletico Madrid may be left to rue their poor finishing after being held to a 0-0 home draw by Valladolid.
■ ENGLAND
Kitson to appear in court
Dave Kitson, striker with English Premier League side Reading, is to appear in court after he was arrested for an alleged drunk-driving offense. Kitson, 27, has been accused of failing to give a breath sample and failing to cooperate in providing a sample after being stopped by officers near his home in the village of Shinfield, near Reading, southwest of London in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A Reading Football Club spokesman said: "We can confirm that a player has been arrested in connection with a drink-driving allegation and is due to appear in court."
■ ENGLAND
Briatore lauds fair play
Renault Formula One Team boss and Queens Park Rangers co-owner Flavio Briatore has blasted the Italian soccer world and lauded the sport in Britain for its fair play and meritocracy. "Here you are on market and you play in a clean competition, where the rules have no shadowy areas," he told the Italian edition of GQ magazine when asked why he bought into an English Championship (second division) club instead of one in his homeland. "It's a challenge with only one yardstick: merit. That's why there are investors from all over the world here, while in [soccer in] Italy, there is not even one."
■ TRINIDAD
Maturana made manager
Francisco Maturana, who led Colombia to two World Cup appearances, has been selected as the new manager of Trinidad and Tobago's national team. Maturana, who coached Colombia in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, will begin leading the twin-island Caribbean country's side early next month in time for a friendly against Guadeloupe on Feb. 6, said Jack Warner, special adviser to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation. Warner told local reporters that Maturana will replace the suspended Wim Rijsbergen as the Soca Warriors manager. "I know Rijsbergen will not be back here -- since he left he has not contacted anybody. We needed the best available coach and I went for the best," Warner said.
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