NETHERLANDS
PSV thrash AZ Alkmaar
Balazs Dzsudzsak and Marcus Berg each scored twice as PSV Eindhoven blanked AZ Alkmaar 4-0 to stay top of the Dutch league on Saturday. Berg slotted a rebound to give PSV the lead after eight minutes, then Ola Toivonen played in Dzsudzsak for the second on the stroke of the hour. Dzsudzsak converted Jeremain Lens’ pass in the 66th minute and Toivonen set up Berg for the fourth in the 77th minute. Also, Nacer Chadli’s 39th-minute goal was enough to help Twente see off Vitesse Arnhem 1-0. PSV and Twente are tied on top of the standings, but PSV enjoy a superior goal difference. Battling relegation, Feyenoord secured their first win of the year, beating Heracles Almelo 2-1 with goals from Ryo Miyaichi and Diego Biseswar. Ismo Vorstermans’ stoppage-time goal gave Utrecht a point after a 3-3 draw at bottom side Willem II. Dmitri Bulykin netted twice as ADO The Hague defeated VVV Venlo 3-0.
GREECE
Olympiakos close in on title
Olympiakos came from behind to beat hosts Aris 2-1 and close in on the Greek league title on Saturday. With eight games remaining, Olympiakos are 10 points clear of defending champions Panathinaikos. Olympiakos play Panathinaikos at home next weekend and their only major away game remaining is at third-placed PAOK. In other games on Saturday, Panionios upset visiting PAOK 1-0, while Ergotelis beat Kavala 2-1. Olympiakos came out more aggressively and had their first major chance in the 13th minute when Kevin Mirallas latched on to Ariel Ibagaza’s long pass, but sent the ball just wide of the right post. Four minutes later, Aris scored against the run of play, when Sergio Koke’s back-heel found Darcy Neto, who scored despite the sliding tackle of defender Olof Mellberg. Olympiakos equalized in the 39th minute when Ibagaza’s lob found Rafik Djebbour alone inside the area with only goalkeeper Markos Vellidis to beat and the Algerian striker did not miss. In the 79th minute, Ibagaza crossed from the left and Aris defender Michel beat Djebbour to the header, only to send the ball to David Fuster, who volleyed home the winner off the post.
PORTUGAL
Sporting held by Olhanense
Sporting squandered a double by Helder Postiga to draw 2-2 at Olhanense in the Portuguese league on Saturday. Postiga put Sporting in front with a header in the 27th minute and the striker added a second in the 62nd minute, beating Olhanense goalkeeper Ricardo Baptista one-on-one, but three minutes later, Brazilian forward Ismaily grabbed one back for Olhanense and the hosts won a point when Sporting defender Daniel Carrico deflected a ball from Jorge Goncalves into his own goal in the 67th minute. Sporting’s second consecutive draw left them nine points behind second-placed Benfica and 20 points behind leaders Porto. Also on Saturday, Leiria beat Nacional 1-0 thanks to Fabricio’s 44th-minute winner.
SUDAN
Algeria, Sudan go through
Algeria joined Sudan in the African Nations Championship quarter-finals on Saturday after finishing runners-up in Group A after a 0-0 draw with the host nation. Sudan were assured of a last-eight berth after solitary-goal victories against Gabon and Uganda, and the draw secured first place in the table. Jerry Pitty Djoue scored twice in the second half to earn Gabon a 2-1 victory over Uganda in a match played at the same time, with Juma Ibrahim grabbing a consolation two minutes from time.
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