■SOUTH KOREA
Coach Huh steps down
Huh Jung-moo stepped down as South Korea’s coach yesterday, citing distress from scathing attacks over his leadership during the World Cup in South Africa. “I’ve decided not to seek a second term,” Huh, 55, told journalists. “My family members suffered a lot ... I want to have time to recharge myself and spend some time with my family.” Korea Football Association chairman Cho Chung-yun said earlier he had wanted Huh to remain in the job. In the group stages South Korea beat Greece 2-0, but suffered a crushing 4-1 defeat to Argentina, which sparked a barrage of cyber attacks on the coach, notably over his decision to shuffle his defenders by bringing on Oh Beom-seok for Cha Du-ri. Cha performed well in the match with Greece, but Oh made some decisive errors.
■JAPAN
Marcelo Bielsa on wish-list
Former Argentina coaches Marcelo Bielsa and Jose Pekerman head Japan’s wish-list to take over from Takeshi Okada, local media reported yesterday. Okada is set to retire to a life of writing poetry and farming after the Blue Samurai were knocked out of the World Cup in the round-of-16, triggering a search for his successor. Japan’s stock has risen after their surprise run to the knockout stages following victories over Cameroon and Denmark. “The most important point is to evaluate what each of the candidates can bring to table,” Japan Football Association technical director Hiromi Hara told Nikkan Sports. “Experience is important, but also the coach’s character and passion for Japan. We don’t want to rush.”
■FRANCE
League wants resignations
The French Football League has called for the entire management of the French Football Federation to resign following the country’s shambolic World Cup performance. Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes resigned on Monday and a meeting of the federal council was scheduled to take place yesterday in Paris to name a caretaker president. “After the collective disaster in South Africa, the only dignified and responsible attitude from the members of the federal council is for all to resign immediately the way Jean-Pierre Escalettes did,” the league said in a statement on Thursday.
■JAPAN
Komano to get medal
Defender Yuichi Komano is poised to get a medal after his missed penalty-kick led to the country’s World Cup exit in the round-of-16. The governor of Komano’s native Wakayama Prefecture told Japanese media yesterday he wanted to present Komano with the medal for his efforts in South Africa. “We would like to present Komano with a medal for giving people such dreams and emotions,” said Yoshinobu Nisaka Wakayama, who watched Japan’s penalty shootout defeat by Paraguay at a public viewing area with Komano’s mother.
■CHILE
Thousands greet team
Thousands skipped work and school on Thursday to give a heroes’ welcome to their national team on their return from the World Cup after one of their best performances ever. Chile exited the tournament on Monday after losing to Brazil in the round-of-16. However, in the group stage they enjoyed two consecutive wins, something not seen since they got third place when the cup was played on their home turf in 1962.
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