■ GREECE
Olympiakos extend lead
Luciano Galletti came off the bench on Sunday to convert an injury-time penalty for Olympiakos as they beat last-place Thrasivoulos 2-1 and extended their lead to six points in the Greek league. Olympiakos’ Sebastian Leto scored in the 20th minute, but a Yiannis Chloros header eight minutes later leveled for Thrasivoulos. Olympiakos squandered a series of chances before Leto gave the hosts the lead. In the 28th minute, Chloros headed in off a free-kick from Manolis Liapakis to silence the sold-out crowd of 35,000 Olympiakos supporters. The second half saw Olympiakos launch a series of attacks, but the Thrasivoulos defense held firm until the first minute of injury-time when the referee awarded a disputed penalty. Galletti, who had replaced Oscar in the 58th minute, made no mistake from the spot. Panathinaikos’ game was marred by clashes between both sets of fans, forcing it to be suspended for 10 minutes in the second half and for police to use tear gas. Panathinaikos captain Yiannis Goumas was treated after inhaling gas, but he was able to continue. Panathinaikos dominated play from the start, hitting the post through Goumas in the 36th minute and Dimitris Salpingidis in the 42nd minute. Antonis Petropoulos opened the scoring with a header off a Giorgos Karagounis cross in the 52nd minute and Salpingidis made it 2-0 four minutes later. Substitute Ante Rukavina scored the third goal in injury-time with a header off a cross by Sotiris Ninis.
■PORTUGAL
Leixoes, Porto slip up
Leixoes and Porto both failed to take over the league leadership after drawing home matches on Sunday. Leixoes finished 1-1 with struggling Amadora, while Porto ended scoreless against Maritimo. Benfica have 25 points, while Leixoes and Porto have 24, one more than Sporting Lisbon. Also on Sunday, it was Pacos Ferreira 2, Setubal 0 and Belenenses 3, Trofense 2. Leixoes took a 58th-minute lead through striker Wesley following Diogo Valente’s corner despite Amadora players arguing that the ball had not crossed the line. The visitors, who began the game without a win in seven matches and with players complaining over late salary payments, equalized 21 minutes later through Celestino’s penalty. Porto’s draw at its Stadium of the Dragon ended a nine-game winning streak in all competitions and was a blow to their hopes of winning the title for a fourth straight time. The champions struggled against Maritimo’s well-organized defense, which has conceded just one away goal this season and is now unbeaten in nine games.
■SCOTLAND
Celtic stay four points clear
Celtic won 3-0 at Falkirk on Sunday to stay four points ahead at the top of the Scottish Premier League. Georgios Samaras, Koki Mizuno and Scott McDonald scored second-half goals at the Falkirk Stadium for a victory that makes sure Rangers can’t catch the Hoops when the Old Firm meet next weekend at Ibrox.
■SPAIN
Real confirm Diarra move
Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra’s move to Real Madrid, which was largely agreed to in midweek, has been officially confirmed, the Spanish club said on Sunday. Portsmouth had said on Wednesday they had accepted a substantial offer from Real to buy the 23-year-old Frenchman, though Spain’s sporting press said wage negotiations had held up the sealing of the deal. Radio Cadena Ser reported Diarra had moved for 20 million euros (US$28 million) on a four-season contract.
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