■GERMANY
Bayern win Audi Cup
Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 7-6 on penalties to win the pre-season Audi Cup after a scoreless draw in regulation time on Thursday. Bayern goalkeeper Michael Rensing, striving to become the starter in the upcoming season, made the decisive save by stopping Jonny Evans’ shot. Daniel van Buyten then converted the winning penalty. Both teams wasted one penalty each, with Rensing also stopping Patrice Evra, and Edwin van der Sar knocking away Danijel Pranjic’s effort. There was no extra time. In a slow-paced game, Mario Gomez hit the crossbar of Van der Sar’s goal in the first half and Dimitar Berbatov’s overhead attempt also bounced off the post. Rensing did well to deny Wayne Rooney late in the game. The match for third-place was also decided on penalties, with Roberto Abbondanzieri making two saves to help Boca Juniors beat AC Milan 4-3 in the shootout.
■ENGLAND
Rovers for sale on eBay
Users logging on to Internet auction site eBay on Thursday found unfashionable English soccer club Tranmere Rovers up for sale. The club, based in Birkenhead and existing in the shadow of Premier League giants Liverpool and Everton, was put up for sale by Dornoch Capital, a US firm charged with finding a buyer for the League One team. The BBC reported that the auction, which invited starting bids of US$10 million, drew attention to Tranmere’s lack of debt and its potential for creating “revenue growth” through sponsorship, TV revenues and “upgrading the fan experience.” In the past, pranksters have jokingly listed players and soccer clubs as “for sale” on eBay, but this time Tranmere chairman Peter Johnson admitted there was no element of spoof. Johnson was furious that his decision to seek outside investment had been made public in such a bizarre manner. He immediately contacted Dornoch Capital to ask for the eBay listing to be removed. “We were appalled,” Johnson told BBC Radio Merseyside. “It’s totally inappropriate. We immediately e-mailed them and said: ‘Take it off right away.’ You can imagine how shocked we were to wake up this morning to find out we were on eBay.”
■CHINA
Ten players punished
China’s soccer authorities have punished 10 Tianjin City players for attacking the referee in a recent match at the China National Games, including banning one for life. The incident occurred at the end of last Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Beijing during the group stages of the soccer tournament at the nation’s four-yearly Games. Of the 10, striker Zhao Shitong was handed a life ban for chasing referee He Zhibiao some 30m and knocking him to the ground, the soccer association said. Six more players were suspended for at least two years, while the others were given five or 10-game suspensions, it said. The players competing in the China National Games are usually young second-tier competitors looking to break into the nation’s Super League.
■FRANCE
Gonzalez breaks collarbone
Marseille’s most expensive new signing, Argentine defensive midfielder Lucho Gonzalez, is injured and will miss the start of the new season, the French club said on Thursday. The 28-year-old international who joined from FC Porto this week for 18 million euros (US$25 million), was hurt during a friendly between Marseille and Saint Etienne on Wednesday. “He fell with all his weight on his left shoulder and his collarbone broke under the shock,” a club spokesman said.
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