SPAIN
Bilbao deny Alcorcon
Athletic Bilbao denied Alcorcon another King’s Cup shock when a powerful long-range strike from midfielder Carlos Gurpegi lifted them to a 1-0 win in the first leg of their round-of-32 tie on Thursday. Alcorcon, a satellite town on the outskirts of Madrid, hit the headlines last season while still in Segunda B (Spain’s third tier) when they humiliated La Liga giants Real Madrid 4-0 at the same stage of the competition. Real failed to turn the tie around at the Bernabeu and slumped to an astonishing 4-1 aggregate loss. There was to be no repeat for a team now in the second division as Gurpegi grabbed the only goal in the 54th minute when he fired a shot in off the underside of the crossbar from about 30m. In the remaining two matches on Thursday, La Liga strugglers Deportivo La Coruna came from behind to draw 1-1 at Osasuna, while promoted Real Sociedad squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to visiting Almeria.
AUSTRALIA
Jeffers becomes a Jet
Former England international striker Francis Jeffers has joined Australian A-League club Newcastle Jets for a 10-match stint as a guest, the club said yesterday. The former Everton and Arsenal star, 29, made one appearance for England against Australia in 2003 and has scored 34 goals in the English Premier League. He was also the all-time leading scorer for England under-21s with 13 goals, a record he shares with Alan Shearer. “I like what is happening with the club,” Jeffers said. “It is an exciting period here and hopefully I will be able to assist the Jets to climb up the ladder during my time here. I can’t wait to get going.” Jeffers, who was a free agent after being released by Sheffield Wednesday in the summer, is expected to make his first appearance for the Jets against Adelaide United in Newcastle on Nov. 13.
SPAIN
Garcia leaves hospital
Salamanca midfielder Miguel Garcia left hospital on Thursday, four days after suffering a heart attack during a Spanish second division game that left him legally dead for several seconds. “Thank you everyone for your concern. I feel perfect,” the smiling 31-year-old told reporters as he was discharged from hospital in the eastern city of Salamanca. Television footage taken during the 56th minute of the match against Real Betis showed Garcia struggling to maintain his balance after tying his shoe laces, before buckling on his knees and collapsing face-first on the pitch. Team doctor Jose Ignacio Garrido said the player was legally dead for 25 seconds, before he was revived on the pitch and rushed to hospital. While Garcia is expected to make a full recovery, doctors say his playing career is over.
ENGLAND
Gibbs ruled out for weeks
Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs was ruled out for several weeks on Thursday after suffering knee ligament damage in his side’s League Cup win against Newcastle United. Gibbs sustained a medial ligament injury after 18 minutes of the Gunners’ 4-0 victory at St James’ Park on Wednesday. The 21-year-old fullback was undergoing a scan yesterday to check the extent of the problem, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger doesn’t expect Gibbs to be available for the next few weeks. There was better news for Wenger over the fitness of forward Robin van Persie and midfielder Aaron Ramsey. Wenger expects both long-term injury victims to return to full training by the end of next week. “They should be back in the group at the end of next week,” he said.
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