■BRAZIL
Ronaldo a happy Corinthian
Ronaldo wants to end his career with his present club Corinthians. “There is no way to change history. I’ll stay with Corinthians forever,” he said on Tuesday in an interview with sports newspaper Globoesporte. “The fans have received me with open arms. I’ve responded by scoring goals. Ronaldo, 33, has played most of his career in Europe with PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter, Real Madrid and AC Milan. He returned to Brazil after being released by AC Milan last year following an injury to his left knee. He joined Corinthians 10 months ago. There has been talk of Ronaldo moving to his childhood favorites — Flamengo — but he said that’s no longer an option. “Playing with Flamengo was a dream I had, but it’s over,” he said. Ronaldo is the all-time scoring leader in World Cup finals, but he has not been called up to Brazil since Dunga took over as national coach following the 2006 World Cup. Ronaldo has talked about his desire to play for Brazil next year in South Africa, but has said recovering from his knee injury was his top priority.
■COPA SUDAMERICANA
Liga draw with Velez
Ecuador’s Liga de Quito earned a 1-1 draw against Argentina’s Velez Sarsfield in the Copa Sudamericana quarter-finals on Tuesday. Hernan Lopez’s early header for Velez was matched by Claudio Bieler’s strike just after the break. Velez took the lead in the sixth minute when Jonathan Cristaldo burst down the right. Maximiliano Moralez nodded the cross back across goal and Lopez scored from close range. Liga, last year’s Copa Libertadores champion, leveled when Bieler scooped the ball in despite being knocked down by Velez ’keeper German Montoya in the 53rd minute.
■UNITED STATES
Donovan breaks record
Landon Donovan was named the best player on the US team for a record-breaking sixth time on Tuesday. Donovan, 27, was instrumental in the US’ successful qualifying campaign for the World Cup and run to the Confederations Cup final. “I think this year was, aside from 2002 [when the US reached the World Cup quarter-finals], as long as I’ve been part of the national team, the best year the national team’s had,” said Donovan, who won the Honda Award for the third successive year after winning three in a row in 2002-04. “Maybe including 2002. So to be part of it, to be recognized for that, is very cool.” Donovan received 424 points in balloting by media members, finishing ahead of two teammates, goalkeeper Tim Howard (267 points), who plays for Everton, and 19-year-old forward Jozy Altidore (178), who is with Hull City on loan from Villarreal.
■ENGLAND
’Boro sack Southgate
Gareth Southgate was sacked as manager of Championship side Middlesbrough yesterday hours after they had beaten Derby 2-0. Victory had not only ended a run of three successive home defeats but left them fourth in the table just a point adrift of leaders West Brom. However, chairman Steve Gibson said he had decided with great regret to sack the 39-year-old, who had been in charge since June 2006 after playing more than 200 times for them after signing from Aston Villa in 2001. “This has been the most difficult decision I’ve had to make in all the time I’ve been in football,” Gibson said. “Gareth has given Middlesbrough football club magnificent service as a skipper and, in very difficult circumstances, as manager ... He is a good man and has all the qualities and integrity that we wanted in a manager. However, the time is right for change and that change has had to be made,” he said.
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