■ SOCCER
Leverkusen top Bundesliga
Werder Bremen’s defense leaked two late goals in quick succession to hand Bayer Leverkusen a 2-0 victory and three points to put them top of the Bundesliga on Tuesday night. The game was heading for a 0-0 draw until Bayer’s Brazilian midfielder Renato Augusto put in a cross and a mix-up in the Bremen defense allowed midfielder Arturo Vidal a simple tap in. And after the Chilean’s goal on 71 minutes, another mistake in the Bremen defense allowed Germany defender Manuel Friedrich to lob Bremen goalkeeper Christian Vander just nine minutes later to leave Bremen red-faced.
Schalke are up to third after an impressive 3-0 win at 10-man Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe were reduced to 10 men when defender Maik Franz was shown a second yellow card on 56 minutes for gesturing to the Schalke bench and stormed from the pitch, kicking over a chair and pushing away team-mates on the way. Wolfsburg grabbed a 3-0 win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, and bottom club Energie Cottbus gained a valuable point at Arminie Bielefeld thanks to a 1-1 draw.
■ RUGBY
Wing questioned over brawl
England wing Lesley Vainikolo has been questioned by police in connection with a street brawl that left a man in hospital. “Police were called at 2am on Sunday to a reported assault in Bath and a 23-year-old man was taken to hospital with head injuries,” a spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said on Tuesday. “A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm. He was released on police bail pending further inquiries,” the police said. Vainikolo’s club, Gloucester, said they were aware that Vainikolo was the subject of a police investigation.
■ SOCCER
Ebanks-Blake boosts Wolves
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scored twice as Wolves went one point clear at the top of English soccer’s second-tier Championship with a 2-1 win over Swansea at Molineux on Tuesday. Ebanks-Blake struck either side of half-time, his efforts bookending a goal for the visiting Welsh side from Darren Pratley. Birmingham were deprived of top spot after losing 1-0 away to a QPR side that played the whole of the second half with 10 men after Mikele Leigertwood was sent off for a foul on Lee Carsley just before the break. Samuel di Carmine’s superb strike gave Gareth Ainsworth, Rangers’ caretaker manager, his first win in charge following the sacking of former boss Iain Dowie. Elsewhere late goals from Ross McCormack and Peter Whittingham gave Cardiff a 2-0 win over Blackpool while Derby extended their unbeaten home run to six matches with a 3-1 win over Norwich.
■ SOCCER
Brazilians play for charity
A team of retired Brazilian soccer players left Yangon yesterday after raising US$10,000 for victims of Cyclone Nargis via charity games in Myanmar, the Myanmar Football Federation (MFF) said. While in Myanmar the Brazilians, including several well-known retired players such as 1994 World Cup star Paulo Sergio, staged two charity matches against the Myanmar national team in Yangon on Sunday and Tuesday, raising 12.5 million kyat (US$10,000) from the public. The Brazilians won the Sunday match 4-0, while Tuesday’s ended in a draw 1-1, the MFF said. The earnings, minus expenses, will be donated to victims of Cyclone Nargis that swept over Myanmar’s southern delta region in May.
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