■REFEREES
FIFA appoints upcoming refs
Spanish referee Alberto Undiano will take charge of the round-of-16 match between the Netherlands and Slovakia in Durban today, his second appointment of the World Cup. Undiano handed out nine yellow cards — the most for a single game at this World Cup — and sent Germany striker Miroslav Klose off during the Group D game between the Germans and Serbia on June 18. FIFA on Saturday also announced that Howard Webb of England would take control of Brazil against Chile at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park today. Hector Baldassi of Argentina has been awarded the game between Spain and Portugal in Cape Town tomorrow, while Frank de Bleeckere of Belgium will referee Paraguay versus Japan in Pretoria on the same day.
■CRIME
Australian fans robbed
South African police say four Australian fans were robbed after their team’s final World Cup match. Police spokesman Leonard Hlathi said on Sunday the four found their chalet had been ransacked after they returned to their hotel outside the eastern city of Nelspruit on Thursday night. As one of the fans headed to the front desk to report what had happened, four armed men pushed him back into the chalet. All the fans were then forced to the ground and searched. Hlathi said an undisclosed amount of cash and items such as cameras was taken. He said no one was hurt. Hlathi said police were appealing to the public for information leading to the arrest of “these thugs.”
■CRIME
Ticket scams a big problem
South African companies lost more than US$850,000 in World Cup ticketing scams, a report in a local newspaper said on Sunday. The Sunday Times said the companies, along with many South African and foreign fans, had lost large amounts after buying tickets that were later canceled because they were not bought through FIFA-accredited agents. The report said Clifford Green, a lawyer acting for FIFA and accredited ticket sales company Match, had a dossier of affidavits from seven companies, including petrochemicals group Sasol, detailing their losses. The affidavit reportedly showed that Sasol had paid US$434,000 to a ticketing company for 110 tickets to group games, the semi-finals and the final.
■SPAIN
Xabi Alonso doubtful to play
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said midfielder Xabi Alonso was “a serious doubt” for the World Cup last 16 match against Portugal. Alonso suffered a right ankle sprain during the European champion’s 2-1 win over Chile on Friday and his condition hadn’t improved much by Saturday night. Del Bosque said “he’s a serious doubt to play on Tuesday. He’s already undergoing treatment and we can only hope he’ll be ready. If not, someone else will play.” Spain is also without defender Raul Albiol, who injured his right leg during Saturday’s training.
■SWITZERLAND
Hitzfeld to keep coaching
Switzerland’s coach Ottmar Hitzfeld will remain at the helm of the Swiss national team until July 2012, despite a disappointing first-round elimination at the soccer World Cup. Hitzfeld, who renewed his contract with the Swiss federation in August last year, was asked during the team’s final press conference if he would honor his contract despite rumors that several German clubs were seeking his services. “Of course I do want to stay. If the Swiss people want me to stay, I’ll stay,” Hitzfeld 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