■ SOCCER
Players stump up for fuel
Marseille staff and players were involved in a whip round to pay for fuel for their plane back to France midweek because of an administrative error. Marseille, beaten 2-1 at Atletico Madrid in Champions League action, took off two hours late during the early hours of Thursday after representatives of oil company Exxon refused payment by credit card from the pilot. An administrative error, it appears by Exxon, meant they had forgotten to send authorization to oil company CLH, representing Exxon, to supply fuel for the flight, said Christophe Villeneuve, who works for the travel agency which organizes the team’s trips. Flight staff, Marseille players and staff held a whip round and the 3,000 euros (US$4,000) required was stumped up so the plane could take off. Marseille coach Eric Gerets joked: “I wanted to buy two cigars but I gave 100 euros which meant I was not able to smoke today.”
■ SOCCER
Star to play for free
Joseba Etxeberria signed a one-year contract extension with Athletic Bilbao on Thursday that will see the former Spain international play his final season for free. The 31-year-old Etxeberria’s contract runs out at the end of this season and the Basque player struck up the deal since he wanted to be sure of retiring as an Athletic player and wanted to give something back to the club’s supporters. Etxeberria hopes to reach 500 games played when he retires after a 15-year career at San Mames. Club president Fernando Garcia Macua called it a “footballing first.” “From the club’s standpoint there are not words enough to thank such a gesture,” Garcia Macua said.
■ CRICKET
Aussie spinner heads home
Australia’s spin woes deepened in India yesterday when leg-spinner Bryce McGain was ordered to return home because of a shoulder injury. Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said the decision to send McGain home was made after it was confirmed he would not be able to bowl for the majority of the tour. “Bryce suffered a setback at training on Tuesday in an attempt to be available for the four-day match,” Kountouris said. “As a result, it has been decided that Bryce will not be available for selection for the majority of the tour.” A decision on who will replace McGain for the four-Test series, which starts next week, will be taken after Australian chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch arrives in India today. It is expected that left-armer Beau Casson, a surprise exclusion from the original squad after making his Test debut in the Caribbean earlier this year, will be the likely replacement.
■ CRICKET
Afghans eye World Cup
Players from war-torn Afghanistan hope to take another step closer to the 2011 World Cup when they tackle five other contenders in the latest qualifying round that starts in Tanzania today. Afghanistan will compete against Hong Kong, Jersey, Fiji, Italy and hosts Tanzania for the top two places in the ICC World Cricket League Division Four, which will ensure spots in Division Three. The top two sides there will progress to the World Cup Qualifier with the top four sides from that making it to Asia in 2011. “It’s our dream to qualify for the 2011 World Cup,” said Afghanistan fast bowler Hamid Hassan. “I couldn’t explain the feelings of happiness and joy if we get to achieve that. It will be a matter of pride for us to be watched live by the whole world on TV while representing Afghanistan.”
■ FORMULA ONE
Tram blamed for retirement
Red Bull have identified a tram as the likely culprit for Mark Webber’s retirement in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Australian, who has been dogged by bad luck in a 118-race Formula One career, was on course for a podium finish in the first night-time Grand Prix when his car’s gearbox tried to select two gears at once and broke on lap 30. Team boss Christian Horner told Britain’s Autosport magazine on Thursday that it appeared a sudden electrical surge at turn 13 was responsible. “A tram line runs beneath the track at that corner and it seems as if static from a passing tram at the very moment Mark was in the corner passed through the ground,” he said.
■ BASKETBALL
Jeffries fractures calf bone
New York Knicks forward Jared Jeffries fractured the calf bone in his left leg during the National Basketball Association team’s training camp. The 26-year-old may be out for six to eight weeks, according to the NBA Web site. The Knicks begin the regular season on Oct. 29 against Miami. Last season, Jeffries averaged 3.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
■ TENNIS
Davis Cup penalizes Croatia
Croatia was penalized points and handed an undisclosed fine because the court used for Davis Cup matches against Brazil failed to meet international standards. Croatia will lose 2,000 points as part of the Davis Cup Committee’s ruling reached in Madrid on Sept. 23, the International Tennis Federation said on Thursday. Croatia’s victory over Brazil will stand, however. Croatia returned to the elite World Group with a 4-1 playoff victory over Brazil in the Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 series on an indoor hard court at the Sportski Centar Visnjik stadium at Zadar. The ITF said Croatia violated the federation’s “court pace rating rule,” which assesses the speed of surfaces other than grass and clay. It’s the first such case involving the rule, which was put into place at the start of this year. “There is a maximum and minimum pace that you are allowed to have,” ITF spokeswoman Barbara Travers said. “The Croatian court had a number that was just over the limit.” The ITF rejected Brazil’s appeal to have Croatia disqualified, the victory awarded to Brazil and financial compensation paid to Brazil. The committee said the appeal was turned down because “the court was playable and the ... Brazilian Federation did not appeal until well into the second day of the tie.”
■ GOLF
Overton leads Turning Stone
Jeff Overton fired a five-under-par 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the US$6 million Turning Stone Resort Championship in Vernon, New York. Overton, who started on the back nine, seized the lead with his sixth and final birdie of the day, sinking an eight-footer at No. 8, his penultimate hole. He was one shot in front of Australian Steve Allan and American Michael Allen, who both carded 68 in cold, windy conditions. Allan briefly held the clubhouse lead with his round that included five birdies and one bogey. Allan said the chilly, blustery weather made it difficult to get a feel for his shots, but some good fortune helped compensate. American Tag Ridings, Carlos Franco of Paraguay and Australia’s Jason Day were tied for fourth on 69. Overton, 25, is in search of his first PGA Tour title. His best finish this year was a tie for ninth at the AT&T National. He has made the cut 45 times in 75 career starts, and nabbed one runner-up finish last season.
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