■SOCCER
FIFA Fair Play Day sullied
Referees were assaulted by boot, spittle and verbal abuse as the Chinese Super League (CSL) observed FIFA’s international Fair Play Day in its own particular style last weekend. The Chinese Football Association (CFA), desperate to clean up the league after years of scandal and violence, handed out stiff penalties to seven players and club officials for various offenses committed in CSL matches around the country. Shandong Luneng’s Serbian striker Aleksandar Zivkovic was banned for eight matches and fined 40,000 yuan (US$5,900) for spitting at the referee during a derby match in Qingdao. Hangzhou Greentown substitute Wang Hongyou will miss the next four matches and have to cough up 20,000 yuan for throwing his boot at the referee from the bench during a match against Shenzhen. A tackle by Changchun’s Liu Cheng on Shanghai’s Tao Jin sparked brawls during and after the match, with Shanghai’s coach, translator, team doctor and a player punished for surrounding and verbally abusing the referee on the pitch.
■SOCCER
Ramos to manage CSKA
Former Real Madrid manager Juande Ramos has agreed to replace Brazilian Zico as coach of CSKA Moscow, the Spaniard said on Thursday. “I love new challenges. We are looking forward to helping the team realize their potential in Europe and working really hard over the next three months,” Ramos said on his Web site. Ramos agreed the deal with CSKA until the end of the Russian season in November, reports said. Reports said that Ramos’ main task would be reaching the playoff stage of the Champions League with Russia’s three-time champions.
■SOCCER
Beenhakker gets the sack
Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker was sacked as Poland coach on Thursday after the team’s failure to reach the 2010 World Cup finals, national soccer federation chief Grzegorz Lato said. The 67-year-old former Dutch national coach was axed after the side crashed 3-0 away to Slovenia on Wednesday. The Slovenia game, which came after a sloppy 1-1 draw at home on Saturday to Northern Ireland, left Poland second-from-bottom of Group 3 and mathematically unable to catch up.
■RUGBY UNION
Reds fire coach Mooney
The Queensland Reds have sacked coach Phil Mooney after two seasons of his three-year deal with the struggling Super 14 side, the Queensland Rugby Union announced yesterday. It has been a turbulent off-season for the Reds, who recently lost star player Berrick Barnes to arch-rivals the New South Wales Waratahs. Forwards coach Mark Bell and team manager Brendan Morris were sacked following the Super 14 campaign, while backs coach Damon Emtage and chief recruitment officer Ben Whitaker resigned.
■CYCLING
Jongewaard sent to jail
Australian cyclist Chris Jongewaard has been jailed for two years after being convicted over a hit and run incident that left a fellow rider severely injured. Jongewaard had been drinking when he got behind the wheel and knocked Matthew Rex off his bike after the two of them had been at a party celebrating. Rex suffered a broken back, broken hip, broken leg and internal bleeding in the accident in 2007, from which Jongewaard fled. Judge Wayne Chivell yesterday sentenced the 30-year-old to two years in jail and disqualified him from driving for 10 years.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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