■PALESTINE
Palestine draw at home
Palestinians finally got to play international soccer on home soil on Sunday, drawing 1-1 with Jordan in front of packed stands. The Palestinian team, recognized by FIFA a decade ago, played at a new 6,500 seat stadium in the occupied West Bank town of al-Ram, near Jerusalem, in a match attended by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. The stands overflowed with fans and hundreds also watched from rooftops of vehicles and nearby homes as the Palestinians took an early lead, when in the fourth minute Ahmed Kashkash broke through the Jordanian defense. Kashkash rounded advancing keeper Loay Amayrah and slotted the ball home from the edge of the area. Jordan equalized with a goal in the 48th minute, when with the Palestinian defense in disarray, Raed Nawatir had an easy task putting the ball away after sending goalkeeper Mohammed Shobeer in the wrong direction.
■GREECE
Aris down the champions
Spanish striker Javito scored a first-half goal on Sunday to help Aris beat visiting Olympiakos 1-0 in the Greek league. It was the first defeat this season for the defending champions, who still top the league with 16 points. PAOK beat Levadiakos 3-1 on Saturday to be second with 15 points. Aris controlled play throughout, with Javito scoring with a header in the 18th minute. A disorganized Olympiakos had their best chance in the 90th minute, when a blistering shot by Fernando Belluschi from inside the area sailed over the crossbar. Panathinaikos drew 2-2 at home with Iraklis. Panathinaikos is fourth with 11 points, but has a match in hand. Panathinaikos took the lead in the 33rd minute after a header by Vangelis Mantzios. Iraklis leveled in the 62nd minute when Manolis Papasterianos scored with a deflected shot off Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vyntraon after a counterattack. Two minutes later, 25,000 Panathinaikos fans at Athens Olympic Stadium were silenced when Kiko Raton gave Iraklis a 2-1 lead off a pass from Papasterianos. But Dimitris Salpingidis equalized just seconds before the final whistle after a cross by Sotiris Ninis. Also on Sunday, it was Thrasivoulos 3, AEK 3; Xanthi 2, Panserraikos 1; and Ergotelis 2, Panionios 5.
■PORTUGAL
Nacional join Leixoes at top
Nacional Madeira joined Leixoes at the top of the Portuguese Premier League table after a 1-0 win at home over Vitoria Setubal on Sunday. Brazilian striker Nene gave Nacional victory with a penalty after Setubal defender Auri handled after 78 minutes. The two unheralded teams have 13 points from six games. Benfica, who beat Naval 2-1, are a point behind. Champions Porto, who suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season when they were beaten 3-2 at home by neighbors Leixoes on Saturday, dropped to fourth spot two points behind the leaders.
■ARGENTINA
River Plate lose again
River Plate’s miserable run continued on Sunday when they lost 1-0 at Gimnasia-Jujuy in the Argentine championship, their third such defeat in a week. At the other end of the table, leaders San Lorenzo’s run of six wins came to an end in a 2-1 defeat by Racing Club. Beaten 1-0 by arch-rivals Boca Juniors the previous Sunday and then at home by Mexican side Guadalajara in the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday, champions River remained 19th in the 20-team table. Diego Simeone’s team have won only once in 11 league games and are ahead of bottom-of-the-table Rosario Central on goal difference.
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