Stoke City marked their first European tie in 37 years with a 1-0 home victory over Croatia’s Hajduk Split in their Europa League third qualifying round first-leg tie on Thursday.
Jon Walters headed the only goal of the game after three minutes at the Britannia Stadium from a Matthew Etherington cross, but Tony Pulis’ side were unable to add to their advantage with a tough second-leg tie to come.
Fulham, the previous runners-up, drew 0-0 at another Croatian side, RNK Split, with manager Martin Jol saying he was satisfied with the result.
“They had probably as much possession as we had, maybe a bit more, but nil-nil away from home against a good side — I’m not happy, but I’m satisfied,” Jol said. “They had probably three or four good chances, that is the only thing we have to work on. We didn’t do enough with the ball in their half, but we will do better at home. I expect that we will have more initiative — we have to play better to score.”
Atletico Madrid, the winners in 2009-2010, saw off Stromsgodset of Norway 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon, with former Arsenal star Jose-Antonio Reyes scoring both goals just hours after the Spaniards had sold Sergio Aguero to Manchester City for 38 million pesos (US$62 million).
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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