■SOCCER
Italian strike looms
The Italian soccer players’ association will meet Serie A officials again today in an effort to avoid an upcoming strike following almost five hours of talks on Monday. Last week the union announced that players would strike during Serie A matches on the weekend of Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 because of a dispute over a collective contract with the league which guarantees soccer players’ basic rights. “Talks will continue, but at the moment the strike is still on,” association president Sergio Campana told reporters. “We’ll meet again on Wednesday and next Friday, but we are miles apart on two of the eight points of the new contract proposed by the league: the obligation of a player to accept a transfer and the possibility of a club making players train away from the first team.” Serie A chief Maurizio Beretta and Italian soccer federation president Giancarlo Abete both said when they arrived for the meeting that they were hopeful of stopping the strike. A media backlash against the players, many of whom are millionaires, has criticized them for not being in touch with the economic and working hardships of ordinary Italians.
■GOLF
Macau Open postponed
Next month’s Macau Open golf tournament has been postponed, the Asian Tour said yesterday. “The Macau Open, which was slated from Oct. 21 to 24 has been postponed by the event promoter, the Macau Sports Development Board,” the Asian Tour said in a terse statement. An Asian Tour spokesman said he had no idea if the US$500,000 event would be scheduled later this year. “Only the Macau Sports Development Board can tell that,” he said. Telephone calls to the Macau Sports Development Board went unanswered yesterday. Chinese media reports attributed the postponement to the Macau board’s failure to rope in a private sponsor for the event, the staging of which was getting more and more expensive every year. The event has been run since 1998 and winners have included eight-time European champion Colin Montgomerie.
■BASKETBALL
Iverson may head to China
Former National Basketball Association MVP Allen Iverson is contemplating a move to China. Iverson, who is getting no interest from NBA teams, was contacted by a Chinese team last month, his agent Gary Moore said. Moore declined to name the team or provide more details. The 35-year-old Iverson is at the tail end of his career and isn’t getting any calls from the NBA, which opens training camps in two weeks. “We’re very astonished, to say the least, that not one team has contacted us with any interest,” Moore said. If Iverson heads to China he would follow former all-star Stephon Marbury who played last season for Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association. Iverson is 17th on the NBA’s career scoring list with 24,368 points.
■SOCCER
Almeria, Sociedad draw
Substitute Jose Leonardo Ulloa scored during injury-time as Almeria rallied to draw 2-2 against Real Sociedad in the Spanish league on Monday. Real went ahead after only eight minutes with Raul Tamudo’s header from near the penalty spot before Pablo Piatti drew the hosts even after scoring from Fabian Vargas’ pass. Francisco Sutil put Sociedad back ahead in the 33rd after beating goalkeeper Diego Alves, but Argentine forward Ulloa moved free to fire the ball past Claudio Bravo to secure a point for Almeria. Sociedad has four points to close the second round of games, while Almeria has two.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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