■SOCCER
Spain stays No.1 in world
European champions Spain held their No. 1 status on Wednesday in the latest FIFA world rankings. European nations dominate the rankings, with world champions Italy up one place to second as Euro 2008 runners-up Germany dropped to third. The Netherlands and Croatia remained at four and five in front of the top South Americans: Brazil and Argentina at six and seven. Turkey climbed three places to make the top 10, replacing fellow Euro 2008 semi-finalists Russia — down two to No. 12. Cameroon are the leading African nation, climbing one place to No. 14 in a swap with England. Mexico made the biggest move among the leading nations, rising eight places to No. 24 to take over from the US, which is up three at No. 28. Japan continued to lead the Asian Confederation at No. 35, while New Caledonia — up 21 places to No. 95 — replaced No. 111 New Zealand as the best of the Oceania nations. Other major movers include Gabon, up 12 to No. 62; Algeria rising 14 to No. 76; and Trinidad & Tobago up 12 to No. 80.
■SOCCER
Mafia linked to violence
The hooliganism that marred Napoli’s Serie A opener at AS Roma last weekend may have been orchestrated by the Naples Mafia, the Camorra, Italy’s police chief Antonio Manganelli said on Wednesday. “We have reason to believe that there was the influence of organized crime behind the incidents provoked by the Neapolitan fans,” Manganelli was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. “It’s no coincidence that this investigation has been entrusted to the DDA [District Anti-Mafia Department].” The ticketless fans fought with police and railway workers before effectively occupying a train in Naples. After they refused to get off, police advised regular passengers to disembark and take other trains. There were also scuffles outside Rome’s Olympic stadium between police and Napoli fans and more incidents on the supporters’ return journey after the match.
■SOCCER
Robinho arrives in chopper
Robinho turned up for training with Brazil in a helicopter on Wednesday following his transfer deadline-beating move to Manchester City. Brazil, away to Chile in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday, began training on Tuesday but Robinho was given permission to join up a day late after sealing a move to the English Premier League club just before the close of the transfer window. “I didn’t want to arrive by helicopter because people will say that I’m getting carried away with success, but there was no other way,” he told reporters at Brazil’s mountain retreat in Teresopolis, some 100km from Rio de Janeiro. “Otherwise, I would have been late for training.”
■CRICKET
Rain ruins Cardiff ODI
England were denied the chance to climb to second in the one-day international rankings when the fifth and final match of the series against South Africa was abandoned after only three overs on Wednesday. Kevin Pietersen’s men were already four up in the series and a 5-0 whitewash would have lifted them from third to second in the world behind Australia. After England won the toss and elected to bowl, South Africa reached 6 for 1 with Herschelle Gibbs falling for 3 to a diving catch by wicketkeeper Matt Prior off Stuart Broad. Intermittent downpours then ruled out any further play.
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