■BRAZIL
Fans attack player at training
A player was attacked as furious fans of Brazilian club Fluminense invaded a training session on Tuesday. Media reports said that shots were fired into the air by security guards and the club said it would investigate, although it added that none of its employees carried guns. Television pictures showed around 30 supporters running onto the field as the players were training. One man was seen to aim a punch at midfielder Diguinho who hit back and tried to escape through a side door. Reports said fans retreated after a security guard fired two shots into the air. The players went inside and later continued the practice under a police guard while fans continued to argue with club officials. The protest followed home defeats against Corinthians and Santos by Fluminense. The fans had begun their protest by standing on the terraces and chanting insults at the players as they jogged around the field during a warm-up. Club official Marcelo Penha promised extra security. He denied that the club security guards were armed. “We will find out if there were really shots and we will punish the culprit if necessary.”
■IRAN
US set to play in Tehran
The country’s sports chief has agreed to a request by the US national team to play a friendly game later this year in Tehran, the sports daily Iran reported yesterday. “We agree with holding this friendly game,” Mohammad Ali-Abadi, who is also deputy to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the daily. The president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) had earlier said that because of political sensitivities all relevant details should be cleared before the FFI could reply to the US request. The US team had suggested in its request to play the game in either October or November. FFI president Ali Kafashian however noted that the two dates given by the US could coincide with possible World Cup play-off games for Iran and might be revised. Iran earned a 2-1 win over the US at the 1998 World Cup which was celebrated at that time in Iran as more than just a sports victory. Iran and the US have had no diplomatic ties for more than three decades.
■JAPAN
Makino goes for red Mohican
Hiroshima defender Tomoaki Makino was poised to make a hair-raising debut for Japan against Chile yesterday after reporting for duty with a red-dyed Mohican. The 22-year-old shocked teammates and Japan coach Takeshi Okada with his spiky hairdo on the eve of his country’s Kirin Cup friendly in Osaka. “The red signifies passion and Japan’s rising sun flag,” Makino told Japanese media on Tuesday, adding that it had taken eight hours to create his new look. “Maybe he’s trying to get noticed by getting a Mohican,” Okada smiled. “I had no idea he would go that far. Hopefully he will make a similar impression on the pitch.”
■NETHERLANDS
Ajax name Jol as head coach
Ajax Amsterdam have appointed Martin Jol as their head coach on a three-year contract, the club said on Tuesday. Jol, who was under contract at Germany’s SV Hamburg until next year, will succeed Marco van Basten who resigned a week before the end of the season. Jol was not the first choice for Ajax who held talks with Co Adriaanse, Frank Rijkaard and Morten Olsen. Ajax had a disappointing season under Van Basten finishing third and missing out on Champions league qualification. “Ajax is offering me a bright chance, with long-term perspective” Jol said. “I had a great time working for Hamburg, which is a really big club, but after years working abroad I look forward to return to the Netherlands.”
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