PAKISTAN
Roberts to coach under-23s
Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Graham Roberts aims to raise Pakistan’s profile in the world game after signing a two-month deal to coach the national team and prepare them for next month’s Asian Games. “I have not come here for any monetary benefits. I see this job as a big challenge. I would love to see Pakistan ranked among the respectable football nations of FIFA,” Roberts told a press conference in Lahore. Pakistan are ranked 162nd in the world. The tough-tackling former England international, who won two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup with Spurs in the 1980s, will be with the Pakistan under-23 team as coaching consultant for next month’s Asian Games in China. Roberts said he had turned down an opportunity to work in England to take up his assignment with Pakistan. The 24-team soccer tournament at the 16th Asian Games takes place from Nov. 7 to Nov. 26 in Guangzhou. Pakistan are in Group F with Thailand, Oman and the Maldives.
SCOTLAND
Dundee run out of cash
First Division club Dundee were officially put into administration on Thursday after failing to pay a £365,000 (US$584,000) tax bill. It was revealed last week that Dundee had no option but to accept administration after being unable to negotiate the payment and the process was finally confirmed on Thursday. A statement on the club’s official Web site read: “Dundee FC are now officially in administration. Papers were lodged at the Court of Session in Edinburgh today [Thursday].” Dundee had been waiting for director and main financial backer Calum Melville to deposit £200,000 in a bank account to allow the club to function through the period of administration. It is the second time in seven years Dundee have been placed in administration.
ENGLAND
UEFA probe Blues’ stewards
UEFA have opened “disciplinary procedures” against Chelsea concerning the treatment of Olympique de Marseille stewards during a Champions League game at Stamford Bridge last month, sources close to the French club confirmed on Thursday. Marseille have received a letter from European soccer’s governing body stating that the matter concerning the “incorrect behavior of [Chelsea] stewards” would be examined by UEFA’s disciplinary commission on Oct. 28. Guy Cazademont, Marseille’s head of security, has alleged he was grabbed around the waist by his Chelsea counterparts and forcibly ejected from the stadium before kick-off. Cazademont added that Marseille’s stewards were not allowed to supervise their own fans during the match and were ordered to remain seated, while visiting supporters were prevented from displaying Marseille banners. Chelsea won the Champions League Group F clash 2-0.
SPAIN
Villa joyous over miners
World Cup star David Villa, who comes from a coal mining family in northern Spain, expressed his joy at the rescue of the 33 trapped miners in Chile on Thursday. “I have lived with uncertainty, hoping that everything would turn out well. It seemed that the rescue equipment was perfect, but in these situations there can always be complications,” Villa told reporters. “I’m happy that everything has gone well and everyone is now on the surface,” said the Barcelona striker, Spain’s top scorer in the World Cup in South Africa, who had sent two signed Barca shirts to the miners last month. “Let’s see if this situation serves to improve infrastructure and that this sort of thing does not happen again.”
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