■ENGLAND
MP demands inquiry
A British member of parliament (MP) is demanding an inquiry into the state of English soccer, branding the national team’s performance at the World Cup “pathetic.” England went to the tournament in South Africa with high hopes but went out on Sunday when Germany trounced them 4-1. Conservative lawmaker David Amess said on his Web site that he was so appalled by England’s performance that he filed a parliamentary motion demanding action. The motion urges parliament to voice “its great disappointment at England’s pathetic exit from the World Cup finals” and says the team “let this country and their supporters down.” It calls for an urgent inquiry into the state of the national game and says many players in England’s Premier League are “grossly overpaid and under-perform.”
■GERMANY
Ballack loss good: Matthaus
The loss of Michael Ballack ahead of the World Cup has been a blessing in disguise for Germany, former captain Lothar Matthaus said. Ballack was set to take the captain’s armband in South Africa, but his World Cup dream died when he injured his ankle playing for Chelsea against Portsmouth in the FA Cup final at the end of May. It was seen as a huge blow for German hopes in South Africa, but their young side has coped without him. “I’m genuinely upset for Michael Ballack, but I have to say his absence has helped Germany,” Matthaus told FIFA.com. “I don’t mean that in a spiteful way, but Ballack was arguably holding up a number of players who’ve now blossomed. Each of them has taken on a little more responsibility. Germany are playing with far more pace. Ballack often took a lot of pace out of the game, but that wouldn’t fit the mentality of this young team. Missing out is a personal catastrophe for Michael, but it’s benefited Germany.”
■MEXICO
Coach calls it a day
Javier Aguirre quit on Wednesday as Mexico coach, three days after the team were knocked out of the World Cup in a 3-1 loss to Argentina in the round of 16. It marked the fifth straight time that Mexico have been eliminated in the second round of the World Cup. “I’m the person responsible,” said Aguirre, adding that he’d made a commitment to reach the quarter-finals. “We didn’t qualify for the next round, and because of this one can consider it a failure,” Aguirre said. “The plan was to ... be among the best eight in the world. This was the plan. If we didn’t do it, it’s clear staying on the job is not an option.” Aguirre was appointed 15 months ago for a second stint as Mexico coach. He also coached the team in the 2002 World Cup, but was replaced after Mexico was eliminated by the US. Aguirre is Mexico’s fourth coach in four years and the fifth since Argentine Ricardo La Volpe was released after the 2006 World Cup.
■BRAZIL
Legends’ spat continues
Brazilian legend Pele’s war of words with Argentina coach Diego Maradona continued yesterday as he said the latter was not a good coach because of the troubled private life he had led. Pele, who earlier during the World Cup finals said that Maradona had only taken the Argentina coaching job because he needed the money, said Maradona’s previous troubles — which included treatment for a cocaine addiction — could only have a bad effect on the team. “He [Maradona] is not a good coach, because he had a bizarre lifestyle which cannot go down well with his team,” three-time World Cup winner Pele told German magazine 11Freunde.
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