■SOCCER
Podolski to miss qualifier
Germany striker Lukas Podolski has been ruled out of tomorrow’s 2010 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan after picking up a minor injury in training this week, the German soccer federation said on Sunday. Podolski had also missed Cologne’s season opener, a 1-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, after feeling some pain in his leg muscle during training throughout the week. “It would have been too risky to play him in Baku because he could then be out for much longer,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said on the federation’s Web site. Germany are top of European qualifying Group Four, a point ahead of Russia.
■SOCCER
Real blank DC United
Real Madrid beat DC United 3-0 on Sunday in an exhibition game before 72,368 fans at FedEx Field. The Spanish powerhouse — which spent some US$375 million on new players in the offseason — also beat Toronto FC 5-1 on Friday during its preseason tour. United goalkeeper Josh Wicks kept Real at bay in a scoreless first half, but Gonzalo Higuain scored twice in a two-minute span in the second half as the visitors took control. Arjen Robben added another goal for Real. Real stunned the soccer world with its lavish offseason spending in hopes of regaining supremacy in Spain and Europe from Barcelona. Its newly purchased players included Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, FIFA’s world players of the year in 2007 and last year. Ronaldo played only the first half on Sunday, and Kaka was replaced in the 67th minute.
■ICE HOCKEY
Kane in 20 cent dispute
Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane, last year’s NHL Rookie of the Year, was arrested early on Sunday after an altercation in Buffalo with a cab driver. TV station WIVB reported that Kane pleaded not guilty to charges of felony robbery and misdemeanors of theft of services and criminal mischief that both he and a cousin face following the incident. Kane, 20, caught a cab from the city’s nightclub district and a police report says the driver claimed he was punched and hit by two men because he did not have US$0.20 in change for them, leaving cuts to his face and damaging his glasses.
■BASKETBALL
Rambis to coach T-Wolves
Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor says team executives have a verbal agreement for Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis to become the next coach of the T-Wolves. Taylor told the St Paul Pioneer Press about the deal, saying Rambis was expected to sign a contract yesterday. Rambis replaces Kevin McHale, who was fired in June after the Timberwolves completed a miserable 24-58 campaign. Rambis, 51, played nine seasons for the Lakers during the 1980s “Showtime” era featuring Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
■RUGBY UNION
Carter recalled to All Blacks
Star fly-half Dan Carter was on Monday recalled to the All Blacks squad for the rest of their Tri-Nations campaign six months after suffering a torn Achilles tendon. Carter has played in domestic games recently and declared himself fit to return to international duty. “He is a key member of the All Blacks, has recovered well from his injury and has made a great return to rugby so now is the right time to bring him back into the squad,” coach Graham Henry said. Carter was injured playing for the French side Perpignan against Stade Francais in February while on a New Zealand Rugby Union-sanctioned break from Super 14 duties.
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