■MALAYSIA
Chinese and Aussies fined
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has warned Australian and Chinese soccer authorities over their players’ bad behavior after fining them for a brawl at an under-19 women’s game this month. The AFC imposed fines totaling US$12,000 over the brawl at the AFC under-19 Women’s Championship match played in Wuhan, China, on Monday. Australia’s Jessica Seaman was suspended for four matches and fined US$3,000 after “she was found guilty of violating the AFC disciplinary code.” Seaman was sent off for violent conduct during the match, which China won 2-1. The Australian under-19 women’s team were fined a total of US$4,000 for disciplinary offenses, the AFC said. The China women’s under-19 team were fined US$2,000 for involvement in the post-match scuffle, while the Chinese FA was fined US$3,000 for failing to control spectators.
■PERU
Alianza held by Anzoategui
Alianza Atletico and Deportivo Anzoategui of Venezuela played out an uninspiring scoreless draw in the preliminary round of the Copa Sudamericana on Thursday. The return leg will be played in Venezuela on Sept. 15. Alianza had the better chances to break the deadlock in Peru, with the best opportunity falling to Israel Tordoya, who poked the ball wide in the 69th minute after Anzoategui goalkeeper Juan Burtovoy spilled a short corner. Both teams struggled to cope with the synthetic pitch at the largely empty Elias Aguirre Stadium in Chiclayo, northern Peru. The match was played in Chiclayo because Alianza’s home stadium 200km away in Sullana is too small to host Copa Sudamericana matches.
■ENGLAND
Hull sign Olofinjana, Altidore
Hull City signed Nigerian midfielder Seyi Olofinjana from fellow Premier League club Stoke City on Thursday. Olofinjana, who is believed to have cost £3 million (US$5 million), agreed on a four-year contract with Phil Brown’s Tigers after the 29-year-old turned down an approach from Monaco. Hull also signed US international Jozy Altidore, 19, on a season-long loan from Villarreal, subject to a work permit hearing on Monday, with a view to a permanent deal.
■GERMANY
Fans warned on swine flu
Soccer fans have been advised to tone down their goal celebrations to reduce the risk of catching swine flu. The warning came from Susanne Huggett, the director of a German laboratory who told Thursday’s Bild: “They [fans] shouldn’t shake someone’s hand, kiss or hug” when a goal is scored. “At a football stadium, people are seated very close together. If you find yourself next to someone who is coughing and sniffling all the time, you should think about switching places,” she said. “For the moment, we don’t feel any need to do anything in this area, but we are following developments very closely and we are in close contact with the authorities,” said Holger Hieronymus, director of the Bundesliga.
■ENGLAND
Tottenham sign Bassong
Tottenham Hotspur have signed Newcastle United defender Sebastien Bassong, the Premier League club said on its Web site on Thursday. The 23-year-old, who can play at fullback and centerback, joins a Spurs team depleted by injuries to central defenders Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson, while long-suffering club captain Ledley King is also doubtful to start the season. The former France under-21 international is serving a two-match ban held over from last season.
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