Manchester United slapped a “not for sale” sign on striker Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday following the Portuguese international striker’s most recent bid to pave the way toward joining Real Madrid.
Ronaldo has been linked with the nine-times European champions since he hinted at a move to Real five days before United’s triumph over Chelsea in the Champions League final on May 21.
And after Portugal were ousted from the Euro 2008 on Thursday following a 3-2 defeat to Germany, the 23-year-old said he would announce his future intentions in “two to three days.”
However United have moved quick to quell speculation of a big-money move for their coveted star, and appear to have dug their heels in over the issue in a statement on their Web site.
“Further to Friday’s press speculation about where Cristiano Ronaldo’s future lies, the club has moved to reiterate its stance on the matter: United are not listening to offers,” the statement said.
Ronaldo told reporters after Thursday’s defeat: “There will be news in the coming days.”
Asked about a move to Real, he said: “It’s a big possibility, but it doesn’t just depend on me. I think a concrete offer has been made [from Real], but we’ll see what happens in the next few days and whether we can come to some kind of agreement.”
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
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