■PORTUGAL
Sporting win again
Helder Postiga and Leandro Romagnoli scored for Sporting Lisbon in their 2-0 defeat of Belenenses to continue their perfect start to the league on Saturday. Postiga set Sporting on their way to its third straight win with a shot in the 34th minute after Yannick Djalo had headed on Marat Izmailov’s cross. Sporting sealed their victory when Romagnoli sent Belenenses goalkeeper Julio Cesar the other way to convert a 51st-minute penalty. Sporting lead the league with nine points, three points ahead of Nacional, the other team in the league to have taken maximum points so far.
■FRANCE
Lyon remain undefeated
Ederson’s successful penalty helped Lyon beat lowly Le Havre 1-0 and maintain their unbeaten start to the French league on Saturday. The Brazilian midfielder converted from the spot in the 45th minute after defender Nicolas Gillet fouled striker Frederic Piquionne. Lyon’s fifth win of the season moved them onto 16 points after six rounds. Lyon finished the match with 10 men after winger Sidney Govou was sent off in the 66th for a second yellow card. In Saturday’s other matches, it was: Grenoble 0, Bordeaux 1; Lille 3, Auxerre 2; Lorient 1, Caen 1; Toulouse 2, Sochaux 1; Nantes 2, Valenciennes 0, and Nice 2, Le Mans 2.
■THE NETHERLANDS
PSV lose for first time
AZ Alkmaar handed champions PSV Eindhoven their first defeat of the Dutch league season on Saturday with a 1-0 home win. Alkmaar, without a point up until Saturday, dominated but had to wait until eight minutes from time when Mounir El Hamdaoui set up Maarten Martens to settle the match. Early leaders Groningen made a dreadful start at Heracles Almelo when Oluwafemi Ajilore was sent off in the second minute for a foul. Striker Bas Drost put Heracles ahead early in the second half but Petter Andersson equalized from close range to salvage a point five minutes before time. Groningen are top with seven points after three matches, one more then ADO Den Haag who traveled to Graafschap Doetinchem yesterday. PSV are third, also on six. Arch rivals Feyenoord and Ajax, respectively eighth and ninth with three points, were due to meet yesterday in Rotterdam. At the bottom Vitesse Arnhem and Sparta Rotterdam collected their first point of the season in a 1-1 draw. Ricky van Wolfswinkel opened the scoring for Vitesse in the 50th minute but Charles Dissels replied on 72.
■JAPAN
Antlers hand out life ban
Kashima Antlers have banned a supporter for life after he hit an opposition player with a flagpole, the club said yesterday. The unidentified man stretched the pole out of the stands and clubbed Alex, a Brazilian midfielder for Kashiwa Reysol, as he prepared for a corner kick on Saturday. Alex was not injured in the incident. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. “We informed the person about an indefinite ban from watching all of our matches in the stands,” the team said in a statement. Some 70 police later came out to break up a scuffle between rival fans. There were no arrests. “I want to offer a deep apology,” team president Kazumi Ohigashi said, admitting the incident hurt the league’s image. It was the latest crowd trouble to mar the 15-year-old J-League. In June, the league fined Asian champions Urawa Reds ¥20 million (US$186,250) for failing to prevent a brawl involving thousands of rival fans. Japan has no tradition of sports hooliganism.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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