SOCCER
Maradona in hot water
Former Argentina coach Diego Maradona is in hot water after he accused sacked successor Sergio Batista of accepting bribes to include certain players in the team, local media reports alleged on Thursday. Batista was sacked after July’s Copa America flop on home soil having only replaced Maradona following last year’s World Cup, which ended in a quarter-final thrashing by Germany. Batista had already been in the Argentina coaching set-up before taking over from Maradona as coach of the senior side, having led the Olympic squad to glory at the 2008 Games. He said he is taking legal action after Maradona, now coach of United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl, told TyC Sports that “after we [Maradona and his entourage] took over the team there was an end to bribes.” Maradona suggested that certain arrangements had been in place to give certain players guarantees, before he stamped out the practice. Batista strongly rejected Maradona’s allegations and said he would take legal action to counter Maradona’s “falsehoods, [which are] a product of resentment” at being ousted as national coach.
SOCCER
Balotelli visits prosecutor
Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been interviewed by the public prosecutor in Naples over links to the local mafia, known as the Camorra, Italian media have reported. Balotelli traveled back to Italy with the Napoli team in the early hours of Thursday morning following Wednesday night’s Champions League clash at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. On Thursday, he went to the public prosecutor’s office to discuss a trip he took around a notorious Camorra stronghold in Naples called Scampia. Balotelli is said to have been accompanied on his visit, in June last year, by suspected Camorra leader Marco Iorio, who has been arrested for money laundering, amongst other things. The 21-year-old forward previously claimed he did not know who Iorio was. “I didn’t know who those people were, that day in Naples there were always many people around me,” Balotelli said in June this year.
CRICKET
Lancashire claim title
Lancashire won their first English championship title since 1934 when they defeated Somerset by eight wickets on the final day of the county season on Thursday. Steven Croft (40 not out) struck the winning runs to ensure a 10th win of the season and the title for Lancashire with five overs to spare after Warwickshire failed to beat Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. Lancashire have finished second eight times since 1934, five of them in the last 13 years. They shared the title with Surrey in 1950. “The boys have been amazing this year, competitive to the end,” captain Glen Chapple said. “We have played good cricket all the way through, we have won games that maybe some other teams wouldn’t have won.” Lancashire have been based in Liverpool this season while Old Trafford in Manchester is being redeveloped.
TENNIS
Hlavackova ousts Safarova
Andrea Hlavackova ousted second-seeded Czech compatriot Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7/1), 7-5 on Thursday to reach her first career WTA quarter-final at the Quebec City Challenge. Hlavackova, ranked No. 103, booked a last-eight date with sixth seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who ousted Mirjana Lucic of Croatia 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic upset US seventh seed Irina Falconi 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, while top seed Daniela Hantuchova rallied for a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Melinda Czink.
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