■FRANCE
Lyon beat Lens to go top
Lyon went top of the first division with a 2-0 win over Lens on Saturday as defending champions Bordeaux slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Saint Etienne, ending their 22-match unbeaten streak. Sydney Govou gave Lyon a sixth-minute lead before Kim Kallstrom wrapped up the three points late in the second period. Bordeaux — missing influential midfielder Yoann Gourcuff — suffered their first loss since a 3-0 reverse against Toulouse on March 7. Coach Laurent Blanc, desperate to keep his stars fresh for the domestic and European campaigns, also left Morocco striker Maroune Chamakh and Brazilian midfielder Wendel on the bench for Saturday’s trip. Saint Etienne were ahead after just eight minutes with a headed goal from Augusto Fernandez. Araujo Ilan made it 2-0 on the half-hour mark, with Bordeaux’s Jussie pulling a goal back from the penalty spot in the second half. But Saint Etienne wrapped up the three points in injury-time when Dimitri Payet unleashed a 35m screamer. Montpellier are third after a 3-2 win at rock-bottom Grenoble who have lost all of their eight league matches. Victor Montano and Nenad Dzodic gave Montpellier a 2-0 lead after just 13 minutes before Daniel Ljuboja reduced the deficit early in the second half. Dzodic extended Montpellier’s lead in the 49th minute with Nicolas Dieuze’s injury-time strike coming too late to halt Grenoble’s miserable run. Paris Sainy-Germain are fifth after a 1-1 draw at the Parc des Princes against Nancy.
■THE NETHERLANDS
Alkmaar end winless streak
Defending champions AZ Alkmaar beat NAC Breda 1-0 on Saturday to snap a streak of three games without a win in the Dutch league. Captain Stijn Schaars set up Jeremain Lens for the winning goal in the 30th minute, but Ronald Koeman’s side stayed sixth in league standings with 15 points, five behind leading trio FC Twente, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord. Feyenoord beat RKC Waalwijk 3-0 after Andwele Slory scored in the 28th minute and Tony Varela put the ball into his own net to add another 13 minutes from time. Georginio Wijnaldum wrapped up the win with a goal in the 90th minute. FC Groningen drew 1-1 at ADO The Hague, while Willem II drew 1-1 against NEC Nijmegen.
■PORTUGAL
Braga down 10-man Setubal
Surprise leaders Braga continued their dream start Saturday after beating 10-man Setubal 2-0 to stay unbeaten. Paulo Cesar ensured Braga’s seventh straight win after scoring the winner on the hour after Setubal’s Luis Carlos was red carded in the 36th. Hugo Viana added the second goal in injury-time. Braga now has 21 points, five more than Benfica. Earlier, Kerrouche’s second goal — in the 85th minute — provided Naval with a 3-2 win over Rio Ave in Saturday’s other match.
■ENGLAND
Becks close to Milan return
David Beckham is close to clinching a return to AC Milan for a second loan spell, he was quoted as saying in an interview yesterday. “There are other options available but none that will stop me going to Milan,” the LA Galaxy player told the Mail on Sunday. “It is close to being finalized.” England manager Fabio Capello has already said Beckham must return to a top European side to have any hope making his squad for next year’s World Cup finals. Beckham, who aims to move to the San Siro in January, added: “When I left [Milan], they said they wanted me to come straight back. I had such a marvellous time there. They’re a great club.”
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