■SOUTH AFRICA
FIFA increases prize pot
The winners of next year’s World Cup final in South Africa will collect a check for US$30 million, FIFA said on Thursday. The losing finalists will receive US$24 million and all participating teams will receive an extra US$1 million to cover their preparation costs. FIFA Secretary-general Jerome Valcke said the total prize money available to the 32 finalists would be US$420 million, up 61 percent from US$261.4 million in 2006. The semi-finalists get US$20 million, the quarter-finalists US$18 million, second-round losers US$9 million and those eliminated at the group stage US$8 million. Valcke said FIFA would also provide US$40 million for clubs whose players took part in the tournament. “Every club who has a player at the World Cup will receive US$1,600 per day, per player,” Valcke said.
■ENGLAND
Pompey players not paid
Premier League strugglers Portsmouth announced on Thursday that their players had not received wages for the second time this season. The south coast club, who are bottom of the table, issued a statement confirming that not all their squad had received last month’s salary on time. A similar situation took place two months ago when players were paid their September wages late. “A proportion of their wages will be paid tomorrow [Friday], with the club’s new owners working towards paying the remainder over the next few days,” the statement said. Portsmouth attributed the September payment delay to problems arising from the takeover of the club by former owner Sulaiman Al-Fahim. There were hopes at Fratton Park that such difficulties were a thing of the past, however, after Al-Fahim was brought out in turn by Saudi Arabian businessman Ali Al-Faraj.
■ENGLAND
Walcott to miss Stoke game
Arsenal suffered a fresh setback on Thursday when it was announced England winger Theo Walcott had suffered a hamstring injury and would miss today’s Premier League match against Stoke City. Walcott, 20, played in the second half of the 3-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday before, with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger selecting reserve players, missing out on the Gunners’ League Cup defeat by Manchester City on Wednesday. Arsenal’s Alex Song is suspended for the Emirates Stadium fixture against Stoke, but fullback Bacary Sagna is set to return after an ankle injury.
■SPAIN
League votes on tax protest
La Liga was voting yesterday on whether to suspend matches next weekend to protest a government plan to eliminate a tax break for high-income players. The governing Socialist party wants to eliminate the so-called “Beckham Law” that allows foreign players who earn more than 600,000 euros (US$905,000) to pay only 24 percent tax. If the proposed change goes through, those players would pay 43 percent.
■FRANCE
Player jailed for hitting ref
An amateur player was jailed on Thursday for two weeks and fined 3,801 euros (US$5,728) for knocking out a referee in a seventh division game last weekend. Ten minutes from the end of the game between Bocognano and Ghisonaccia, Bocognano player Marcello Cherchi reacted to being shown a second yellow card for a dangerous tackle by punching referee Joel Plantecoste in the face. Plantecoste was left unconscious on the pitch and had to be hospitalized until Wednesday, before filing a complaint with police.
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