RUSSIA
Champions held by Amkar
Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg remain two points adrift of current league leaders CSKA Moscow after being held to a 1-1 draw by Amkar Perm on Sunday. The slip-up comes 24 hours after CSKA were held to a 1-1 draw away to Rubin Kazan. The Red Army side remain top of the table with 42 points from 20 matches, two points ahead of Zenit, with Dynamo Moscow third on 38 points. Zenit looked in command early on at the Petrovsky Stadium, but it was Amkar who netted the opening goal midway through the first half when Aleksandr Kolomeytsev converted Georgi Peev’s cross. Danko Lazovic missed a penalty for Zenit just before the break, but Alexander Kerzhakov leveled seven minutes after the restart with a header from Viktor Faizulin’s cross. On Saturday, Bibras Natcho gave Rubin the lead from the penalty spot against CSKA, before the visitors won a spot-kick of their own midway through the second half. Sergei Ignashevich blazed his effort over the bar. However, Leonid Slutsky’s side did draw level courtesy of substitute Alan Dzagoev five minutes into stoppage-time.
BELGIUM
Chen back to winning ways
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen got back to winning ways on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Lierse SK at the Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne. The hosts took the lead on 18 minutes courtesy of Alessandro Cordaro, only to be pegged back on 58 minutes when Peter Kovacs struck for Lierse. French midfielder Julien Gorius struck the winner for Mechelen in the 83rd minute. Chen played the full 90 minutes. The result saw Mechelen move into third place in the Jupiler League table on six points, behind leaders Club Brugge KV, seven points, and second-placed RSC Anderlecht, six points, on goal-difference.
PORTUGAL
Porto off to a flying start
Champions Porto beat Vitoria Guimaraes 1-0 on Sunday to take a head start over title contenders Benfica and Sporting, who were both held to draws in the opening round of matches. Brazilian forward Hulk scored Porto’s match-winner from the spot just before halftime after Sapunaru was brought down in the area by Leonel Olimpio. Porto have played Guimaraes in their last three matches, thrashing them 6-2 in May to claim the Portuguese Cup and 2-1 a week ago to lift the Super Cup. Last season’s runners-up Benfica drew 2-2 at newly promoted Gil Vicente after failing to defend an early two-goal lead. Spanish forward Nolito and Argentine striker Javier Saviola scored one each for Benfica in the first 20 minutes, before Gil Vicente striker Hugo Vieira pulled one back on 37 minutes. Brazilian forward Laionel then completed Gil Vicente’s comeback midway through the second half. Sporting drew 1-1 at home with Olhanense.
ENGLAND
Dunga threatens to sue QPR
Former Brazil coach Dunga is threatening to sue Queens Park Rangers to recover a loan he claims he gave to the Premier League club. In a statement issued through his lawyers, Dunga said QPR owe him £750,000 (US$1.2 million) after he helped the club in 2006. “I loaned my money to QPR in good faith when they needed it and am very disappointed that the new owners, who are very wealthy, are now refusing to pay it back,” Dunga said. “I am fully confident in the English system of justice and that the court will help me recover my loans.” The club is owned by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the wealthiest person in Britain.
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