■NETHERLANDS
Twente win and go top
Blaise Nkufo scored a 64th-minute goal to earn Steve McClaren’s Twente Enschede a 1-0 win at ADO Den Haag, a win that put them top of the Dutch league on Saturday. The Englishman guided Twente to second place last season, but has already suffered disappointment this season after Twente were eliminated in Champions League qualification by Portugal’s Sporting. Ronald Koeman’s AZ Alkmaar, last season’s surprise champions, thrashed newcomers RKC Waalwijk 6-0, with Maarten Martens netting twice. Mounir El Hamdaoui opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Belgian international Dembele doubled the lead early in the second half, before an own-goal by Hans Mulder made it 3-0. Martens’ double and Jeremain Lens completed the rout for Alkmaar, who are fourth. Sparta Rotterdam collected their first win by beating Willem II Tilburg 2-1.
■SCOTLAND
Rangers put four past Falkirk
Rangers opened the defense of their Scottish Premier League title on Saturday with a 4-1 win over visiting Falkirk. Falkirk equalized after Lee McCulloch put the home side ahead in the 14th minute, but Kenny Miller struck twice and Steven Naismith rounded off the scoring with seven minutes left to give Rangers a convincing victory. Celtic began their attempt to regain the title from their fiercest rivals with a 3-1 win at Aberdeen. Aiden McGeady scored twice, before Scott McDonald, last season’s leading scorer for the Bhoys, made it 3-0 at halftime. Also on Saturday, Hibernian beat St Mirren 2-1, Kilmarnock beat Hamilton 3-0 and St Johnstone drew 2-2 with visiting Motherwell.
■SPAIN
Messi to skip first game
Lionel Messi will be allowed to skip Barcelona’s first game of the league season to join up with Argentina for their World Cup qualifier against Brazil, coach Pep Guardiola said on Saturday. Barcelona’s La Liga opener at home to Sporting Gijon has been moved to Monday Aug. 31, because the European Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk is on Aug. 28. If Messi had played, he would have been late to join Argentina’s preparations for their home match against the South American group leaders on Sept. 5.
■PORTUGAL
Sporting held by Nacional
Sporting started the Portuguese season with a disappointing 1-1 draw at Nacional on Saturday. Joao Aurelio scored from a Nacional counterattack in the 27th minute, but then leveled it with an own-goal in the 75th minute to allow Sporting to leave the Madeira Stadium with a point. Sporting coach Paulo Bento left Ecuadorean striker Felipe Caicedo, the club’s top off-season signing, off the team sheet. Albert Meyong Ze’s 87th-minute goal allowed Braga to beat Academica 1-0. Academica’s Paulo Sergio was sent off in the 90th minute after picking up a second yellow card. Leixoes and Belenenses officially opened the new season on Friday by playing out a 0-0 draw.
■ITALY
Fans to get special ID cards
Fans in Italy will have to obtain a special supporters card from their club to see their team play away from home next year. The government believes the initiative will make it easier to police matches and track down troublemakers, as part of their bid to combat hooliganism in Italian soccer. Authorities already employ a range of measures to prevent trouble, including bans on away fans at high-risk games.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set