■TENNIS
Taiwanese duo loses final
Japanese duo Kimiko Date-Krumm and Rika Fukiwara defeated Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei and Chen Yi in straight sets to claim the doubles title at the women’s hardcourt tournament in Tokyo yesterday. The No. 3 seeds won 7-5, 6-3 against 23-year-old Chan and 21-year-old Chen, who were the top seeds. Ayumi Morita of Japan defeated Slovakia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to claim the singles title. The No. 3 seed outlasted the winner of last month’s OEC Taipei Ladies Open title to earn her first singles title of the year.
■SOCCER
Nationalism fuels violence
More than 50 people were injured in nationalistic-fueled violence at a match in southwestern Slovakia. Thirty-one people were arrested in Saturday’s rioting — 18 fans for the home team in Dunajska Streda, one of the most important centers for Slovakia’s ethnic Hungarian minority, and 13 from the away team from Bratislava, a police spokeswoman said. Violence had been feared ahead of the championship game between AC Dunajska Streda and Slovan Bratislava as hundreds of hooligans and neo-Nazis from Hungary were expected to travel to the match. Nationalistic tensions have intensified between Hungary and Slovakia recently and have been fuelled by nationalists from both sides through provocative public statements. Police numbers were increased to provide security for the match, that Bratislava won 4-0, but violence broke out between both sets of fans and with the police. A police spokeswoman said that fans from the home team had hurled stones while internet forums accused police of targeting Hungarian fans. The most serious injuries occurred in a crush of Hungarian fans that developed after a police intervention, television reports said.
■RALLYING
Loeb clinches record title
Citroen’s Sebastien Loeb clinched a record fifth world title in a row after surviving a late spin to finish third in the Japan Rally yesterday. Rival Mikko Hirvonen led Jari-Matti Latvala in a Ford one-two but it was not enough to keep the title race alive. A spin on the penultimate stage almost cost the Frenchman third place and his hopes of glory in Sapporo as torrential rain made conditions treacherous. Hirvonen won by 31.1 seconds from fellow Finn Latvala. The Frenchman had wanted to secure the title in Japan in order to drive flat-out in the last race in Britain later this month in a bid to break his own record of 10 wins in a season.
■SOCCER
River horror run continues
Titleholders River Plate slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Lanus on Saturday, extending their winless domestic run to an unprecedented 11 games. The defeat guaranteed beleaguered coach Diego Simeone’s team, who have nine points from their 13 games, would finish the weekend bottom of the Apertura championship. Simeone made nine changes from the team that drew 1-1 with Newell’s Old Boys on Wednesday but saw his side fall behind after only five minutes to a goal from Diego Lagos. Maximiliano Velasquez added a second early in the second half to lift Lanus to fourth in the table. River’s next match is a Copa Sudamericana quarter-final second leg tie away to Mexican side Guadalajara on Thursday and Simeone is expected to face the sack if his side fail to overturn their 1-0 deficit. The only consolation for River, one of Argentina’s biggest clubs, is that they are in no danger of relegation, which is decided over three seasons.
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