■ENGLAND
Owen overlooked again
Michael Owen was overlooked once again by England manager Fabio Capello when the squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus was announced on Sunday. Capello admitted the Newcastle striker had given him a decision to make by scoring three goals in his last four matches. But the Italian boss overlooked him, opting to stick with Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey and Jermain Defoe and bring in the latter’s Portsmouth teammate Peter Crouch, who has scored four in his last three games. In other changes to the squad, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, back from a groin injury, returns to the England midfield ranks, while Joe Cole, injured in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat of Aston Villa on Sunday, misses out. Fellow midfielders Jimmy Bullard of Fulham and Tottenham’s David Bentley are replaced by Crouch and Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson replaces calf-injury victim Paul Robinson of Blackburn.
■POLAND
FIFA drops sanction threat
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has dropped its threat of sanctions on Poland after reaching an agreement with the country’s government, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said yesterday. “We have received letters and documents that there has been an agreement between the FA and the Polish government,” Blatter told reporters in Brussels. “If this agreement comes into force tomorrow it is sufficient for us. We will not impose any sanctions once the agreement comes into force.” FIFA last week warned the Polish government that it was facing the possible suspension of its national team after it decided to remove the FA’s leadership and install a government-appointed administrator. European soccer’s governing body UEFA also said that Poland would likely lose its right to host the 2012 European Championship unless an agreement was reached before FIFA’s deadline.
■SAMOA
Oceania suspends Samoa
The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) yesterday suspended the Samoan Football Soccer Federation (SFSF) for “seriously and repeatedly violating their obligations.” It followed concern over Samoa’s handling of funds from world body FIFA. In a statement, the OFC said the suspension took effect immediately and would be confirmed at their next Congress by a two-thirds majority of the votes taken. “If it is not confirmed, the suspension is automatically lifted,” it added. OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas said his organization imposed the suspension as “a last resort” after attempts to solve the SFSF’s financial problems.
■NETHERLANDS
Groningen regain top spot
FC Groningen regained the top spot in the Dutch league on Sunday with a 3-0 win over ADO The Hague. Petter Andersson, Evgeniy Levchenko and Marcus Berg scored for Groningen to give them 13 points after five rounds, one point ahead of PSV Eindhoven. PSV held the overnight lead after a 3-0 victory over De Graafschap on Saturday. Also on Sunday, NAC Breda scored twice in the first 19 minutes to beat FC Volendam 4-2 and stay third with 12 points, while Feyenoord dropped to 14th after losing 2-0 to NEC Nijmegen. SC Heerenveen pulled off a 5-2 victory over 10-man Ajax to move up to fourth place. FC Twente lost 3-0 at FC Utrecht to hand former England coach Steve McClaren his first Eredivisie defeat.
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