GERMANY
Rangnick leaves Hoffenheim
Hoffenheim’s long-standing coach Ralf Rangnick has left the Bundesliga club after failing to prevent the transfer of midfielder Luiz Gustavo to Bayern Munich. Both sides confirmed the departure on Sunday, saying Rangnick was leaving “by mutual agreement.” Assistant coach Marco Pezzaiuoli was promoted to take Rangnick’s place. Rangnick had been opposed to the immediate transfer of Gustavo, but Hoffenheim’s de-facto owner Dietmar Hopp agreed to a deal with Bayern. Rangnick took over in 2006 and, helped by Hopp’s money, led Hoffenheim’s rise from the third division into the top flight. Hoffenheim finished the first half of this season in eighth place and are also in the quarter-finals of the German Cup. Rangnick had clashed before with Hopp over transfer policy. Hopp became a billionaire in the software industry and has bankrolled the provincial club for more than a decade, also building a new stadium for 30,000.
ITALY
Ronaldinho set to go home
Ronaldinho is in Brazil to negotiate a transfer after being allowed to leave AC Milan’s training camp in Dubai, coach Massimiliano Allegri said on Sunday. “It’s just a decision by him to change his life, go back to Brazil,” Allegri said. “It’s difficult for him to come back.” Brazilian clubs Gremio, Flamengo and Palmeiras have said they are interested in the playmaker. Ronaldinho’s departure on Saturday came just days after AC Milan director Umberto Gandini said the Italian club planned to keep him. His agent, however, has been negotiating the player’s release. Ronaldinho, a two-time FIFA player of the year, has been playing sporadically with Milan and recently said he wanted to return to Brazil to improve his chances of getting back in the national team.
SPAIN
Real include Kaka in squad
Brazilian attacking midfielder Kaka, who has been out since the start of the season, was on Sunday named in the Real Madrid squad for yesterday’s trip to Getafe by coach Jose Mourinho. The playmaker, who won the 2007 Ballon d’Or, underwent surgery in August after injuring his left knee and only returned to training with the squad on Dec. 18. Prior to his injury, Kaka had struggled to shine due to a combination of injuries and poor form.
ASIAN CUP
Late goal earns Iran win
An injury-time goal by Javad Nekounam gave Iran a 1-0 win over Angola in their friendly on Sunday and a boost for the Asian Cup. Nekounam found the bottom corner of the goal with a right-footed strike from the edge of the area. The Iranians dominated possession and had several early chances. Hadi Aghili’s header went across the face of the goal in the 20th minute, while Seyed Jalal Hosseini just missed making contact at the far post shortly before halftime. The Asian Cup begins in Doha on Friday.
GERMANY
Avdic set to join Bremen
Werder Bremen are poised to sign Swedish striker Denni Avdic to replace Portuguese forward Hugo Almedia, who has joined Turkish giants Besiktas, German magazine Kicker reported on Sunday. Avdic, 22 and of Bosnian descent, currently plays for Swedish first division side Elfsborg, where he is under contract until the end of the year. Considered one of his country’s most promising talents, he made his Sweden debut in 2009.
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