SOCCER
Portsmouth sold to Chainrai
Portsmouth have come out of administration after being sold to a company controlled by their former owner Balram Chainrai, the English Championship (second division) club’s administrator said yesterday. “The sale has been completed to a new company principally owned by [Hong Kong businessman] Balram Chainrai and [his business partner] Levi Kushnir,” said administrator Andrew Andronikou, a partner in the firm of UHY Hacker Young. Key creditor Sacha Gaydamak, who is owed £2.2 million (US$3.45 million) by the club, helped pave the way for the sale having earlier issued a statement saying he planned to sign a deal that would ensure Portsmouth did not go out of business.
SOCCER
FIFA official caught on tape
A former FIFA general--secretary identified officials he said could take money in return for votes in the race to host the World Cup, a British newspaper reported yesterday, citing secret footage. Michel Zen-Ruffinen ran through a list of the names — bleeped out on the footage and not revealed by the Sunday Times — with undercover reporters who were posing as lobbyists. “X is nice, he’s a nice guy, but X is money,” he is shown saying of one man, adding of another: “X, it’s money, we can go to [a city] and talk with him on a terrace no problem.” Of a third unnamed figure, he added: “He’s the guy you can have with ladies and not with money.”
RUGBY LEAGUE
Kangaroos rout Papuans
Willie Tonga scored a pair of tries as Australia beat Papua New Guinea 42-0 in a Four Nations match yesterday at Parramatta Stadium in New South Wales, Australia. Captain Darren Lockyer, Cooper Cronk, Brett Morris, Billy Slater, Cameron Smith and Brent Tate added other tries for Australia as the Kangaroos moved into first place in the tournament. Slater’s opening try came after Lockyer’s kick rebounded off the posts directly towards the Australian fullback. A knock-on from a scrum win allowed Tate to celebrate his Test return with a try, but his afternoon ended early after he was taken from the field after a neck injury. Morris scored his ninth try in just his sixth Test for Australia and Smith scored from dummy-half on 55 minutes.
SWIMMING
US marathon swimmer dies
US open water swimmer Francis ‘Fran’ Crippen, a world championship bronze medalist, died during a Marathon Swimming World Cup 10km event in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, world governing body FINA said. Crippen, 26, won a 10km bronze medal at last year’s world championships in Rome and a 5km bronze at the world open water championships in Canada this year. Crippen, who won two US titles in the pool in the 800m freestyle before switching to open water in 2006, died during the last leg of the World Cup event in Fujairah, FINA said.
RALLYING
Loeb extends Catalunya lead
Sebastian Loeb closed in on his sixth straight Catalunya Rally title after the Frenchman stretched his lead to a comfortable 44.4 seconds on Saturday. Loeb, who just clinched a record seventh world championship in his Citroen, saw a slim lead grow into a big one when closest rival Sebastien Ogier lost 15 minutes after an incident in his Citroen during the eighth stage. Petter Solberg of Norway moved into second place in his Citroen in the mixed surface event, while Dani Sordo of Spain was 1 minute, 1.3 seconds behind in third.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who