NETHERLANDS
PSV go on the rampage
Belgium’s Dries Mertens scored a hat-trick as PSV Eindhoven crushed Excelsior Rotterdam in a 6-1 rampage in the Dutch league on Sunday. PSV moved into third with nine points after four matches, three behind leaders Twente, who beat VVV Venlo 4-1 on Saturday. Ajax, 4-1 winners over Vitesse Arnhem on Friday, are second with 10 points. Mertens opened the scoring for PSV after 30 minutes, but Mitchell te Vrede equalized for Excelsior six minutes before the interval. PSV sealed their third straight win in the first six minutes after the break, with Ola Toivonen and Mertens on target, before Jeremain Lens and Toivonen with his second completed the rout. AZ Alkmaar cruised to a 3-0 win at Groningen to move into fourth with nine points. Feyenoord slipped to fifth after being held to a 2-2 draw by nine-man Heerenveen.
SWITZERLAND
Neuchatel players petrified
Players from Swiss Championship side Neuchatel Xamax have admitted to being petrified by the club’s Chechen owner, with one of them claiming he feared for his life, according to the Web site 20minutes.ch on Sunday. The players were reacting after Bulat Chagaev had stormed into the changing room following Neuchatel’s draw with Lausanne on Saturday and terrorized them, while he had to be physically restrained by his armed bodyguards from assaulting coach Joaquin Caparros. “This cannot go on like this,” a player told the Web site — which also cited a player saying that he feared for his life — under condition of anonymity. “It is impossible to work under these conditions. Everyone’s confidence is completely shot. It has reached a point where if we make a bad pass or we fail to control the ball, that we are afraid of the consequences. Today [Saturday night], there was almost a punch-up with the coach. Mr Caparros answered him [Chagaev] back and the bodyguards prevented Chagaev from throttling him.”
ENGLAND
Spurs to offload Palacios
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp says midfielder Wilson Palacios has undergone a medical examination at Stoke City. The Honduras international has not played for Spurs this season and the transfer window closes tomorrow. While confirming Palacios’ impending move, Redknapp said he did not want Peter Crouch to follow him to Stoke, with the striker also linked with a transfer to the Britannia Stadium. “People say we want to sell Crouch to Stoke and it’s in the papers every day ... as far as I know he is staying,” Redknapp said. England midfielder Scott Parker could be joining Spurs after West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce confirmed that “there are some negotiations going on.”
BRAZIL
Fans shot, coach has stroke
Two supporters of Palmeiras suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital on Sunday after fighting between fans and police that marred the team’s 2-1 victory over Corinthians in a Sao Paulo derby. In further drama to hit the Brazilian championship, Vasco da Gama’s young coach Ricardo Gomes had emergency surgery in hospital after suffering a stroke during his team’s 0-0 draw with Flamengo. “Two fans of a supporters’ organization who came from the city of Sao Paulo were shot,” an officer of the Sao Paulo State police said after the incident. The match at the Engenhao was interrupted during the second half when the 46-year-old Ricardo suffered pains while on the bench and was taken to hospital, where the diagnosis was a stroke with hemorrhaging.
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