■ France
Player shoots but misses
An amateur soccer player fired two shots from a handgun after being sent off, police said on Sunday, although there were no reports of injuries. After the player from the Saint-Maur-des-Fosses team was shown a red card, he returned to the changing rooms and then came back to the pitch with a pistol and fired two shots. The other players took cover in the changing rooms while waiting for the police, who found two empty cartridges at the scene. The unnamed player was then arrested and taken to the Saint-Maur-des-Fosses police station, east of Paris.
■ England
City suffer double loss
Manchester City players returned to the changing room on Sunday after losing to Sheffield United in the fourth round of the FA Cup to discover thieves had stolen their cash. "A number of staff and players have had a quantity of cash stolen during the match," City spokesman Paul Tyrrell said. "We are liaising closely with the police here at the stadium and with officials at Sheffield United who are conducting inquiries now. I'm not aware that the dressing room was locked," said Tyrrell, who declined to say which players and officials had been affected. "I'd rather not name names but it was a number of players and the backroom staff."
■ Honduras
Star's brother may be dead
Kidnappers were paid a ransom for the 16-year-old brother of an English Premier League player but the boy is still missing and may be dead, a police official said on Sunday. There has been no word from kidnap victim Edwin Rene Palacios, the brother of Wigan midfielder Wilson Palacios, or his kidnappers following the ransom payment. "The case has become complicated," said Francisco Murillo, the director of criminal investigations for Honduran police. "His family paid the ransom, but the kidnappers still have him. A special team continues to work on the case, but the Palacios family has lost contact with the kidnappers ... and that worries us. The boy may possibly be dead. That is a theory that is floating around in some circles. But that has not been confirmed," Murillo said. "We are continuing to look for clues to bring these criminals to justice." Wigan signed Palacios from Honduran club Olimpia on Jan. 11. The 23-year-old midfielder rejoined Wigan manager Steve Bruce, who signed him on loan when he coached Birmingham earlier this season.
■ England
Hunger blamed for bust-up
Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor's heated on-field confrontation with teammate Nicklas Bendtner during the Gunners' 5-1 loss at Tottenham was the result of the players' hunger for titles. The two tall strikers began arguing and pushing each other during the League Cup semi-final loss at White Hart Lane on Tuesday and had to be pulled apart by teammates. "It was just a little thing," Adebayor said on Saturday. "I tried to motivate him and he took it in the wrong way." Adebayor said the incident had been forgotten by the two strikers. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said the incident had been dealt with internally and he would not reveal what, if any, action had been taken. "What happened is already behind us. It is finished," Adebayor said. "I do not want to look what happened yesterday. I want to look at tomorrow. We are all passionate about this club, we want to win something together as teammates and as friends.
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