ROMANIA
Violent fan charged
A soccer fan in Ploiesti, Romania, was charged on Monday with running onto the pitch and hitting a player in the head, sparking other violent incidents that led to the abandonment of a Romanian league match. The Petrolul Ploiesti-Steaua Bucharest game was halted on Sunday night after the violence. Prosecutors said on Monday that the fan, Dragos Petrut Enache, was being held for 24 hours after punching Steaua Bucharest defender George Galamaz on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. The player remained hospitalized on Monday with a broken right cheekbone and will be sidelined for 45 days, the club said. Enache was charged with disturbing public order and committing violence. A court will decide whether he should be held for 29 days pending trial. Prosecutors said Enache used a hard object to hit Galamaz and had taken drugs before the attack. After the incident, Galamaz’s teammates knocked the fan to the ground and began beating him before he was whisked away by security staff. Two players received red cards for their conduct. The referee stopped play for about 10 minutes. When play resumed, Petrolul Ploiesti fans began throwing flares onto the pitch, and the referee decided to abandon the game.
ENGLAND
Charlton tempering Rooney
Manchester United great Bobby Charlton has been advising Wayne Rooney on how to curb his fiery temper on the pitch. The burley striker will miss the entire group stage of next year’s European Championship after receiving a three-game ban for kicking a player during England’s last qualifier against Montenegro. Asked if he speaks to Rooney about his temperament, Charlton said: “I do sometimes. He is very receptive to good advice. He’s the sort of lad who likes to be told if he’s made a mistake,” Charlton said at the Laureus Sport for Good summit in London on Monday. “He knows he’s made a mistake,” against Montenegro. The 74-year-old Charlton, now a director at Old Trafford, still retains the goal-scoring records for England and United that Rooney will be hoping to overhaul.
ENGLAND
Ferdinand holds comments
Queens Park Rangers (QPR) defender Anton Ferdinand will not comment on allegations that England captain John Terry racially abused him until the Football Association (FA) completes its investigation into the case. “I have very strong feelings on the matter,” Ferdinand said on Monday in a statement issued by QPR. “But in the interests of fairness and not wishing to prejudice what I am sure will be a very thorough inquiry by the FA, this will be my last comment on the subject until the inquiry is concluded.”
SPAIN
Messi selected for award
Barcelona’s two-time winner Lionel Messi has been selected among the 23 candidates for the FIFA world player of the year award. FIFA released the candidates early yesterday for the Ballon d’Or 2011 award. Spanish players dominate the list, with seven nominations including Iker Casillas, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, David Villa, Xabi Alonso and Xavi. Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque was among the 10 candidates nominated for the world coach of the year award. Long-serving Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, Barcelona’s Pep Guardiola and Madrid coach Jose Mourinho are also on the list.
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