ENGLAND
Hughes pans Barton reports
New Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes has slammed reports he is ready to sell club captain Joey Barton. Several Sunday newspapers claimed that Hughes, who took over at Loftus Road last Tuesday, is willing to off-load former Manchester City and Newcastle United midfielder Barton. “I saw that and I think it’s one of those maybe mischief-making Sunday stories,” Hughes said. “From my point of view, there’s certainly no suggestion that we are thinking in those terms. He is captain of the club, I have reiterated that this week. Joey is a quality player and we are looking to bring quality in, not to get those type of players out of the building.” QPR have been linked with a host of signings since the transfer window opened, with Chelsea defender Alex and Blackburn Rovers centerback Christopher Samba both on the club’s wanted list. “ Asked about Congo star Samba, Hughes said: “It’s common knowledge we’ve put in a bid for Chris Samba. We have a number of players we would like to bring to the club. We’ll have to wait and see.”
ITALY
Directors attacked by fans
Fiorentina’s directors had to be saved by police after coming under attack from a group of angry fans following the club’s 1-0 defeat at home to rock-bottom Lecce on Sunday. Following the game, fans tried to invade the VIP stand, and directors were subjected to insults and spat on. Fans also tried to get into the team’s dressing room, where they were repelled by police, and they blocked the exits used by directors and players. Club president Andrea della Valle avoided the unpleasant scenes as he watched the second half from inside the stadium, but executive president Mario Cognigni was spat on as he tried to flee to safety and another director, Paolo Panerai, refused to leave his seat in the VIP section. During the game, fans demanded the club spend some money and told the players to “go to work.”
PORTUGAL
Braga close in on leaders
Braga beat Sporting 2-1 on Sunday to move ahead of their opponents and into sole possession of third place in the league. Helder Barbosa scored off Lima’s cross for Braga’s 51st-minute opener. Lima added what proved to be the winner in the 64th minute, before substitute Andre Carrillo halved the deficit for the visitors in the 74th minute. The win lifted Braga to within six points of second-placed Porto, who are a further two points adrift of leaders Benfica. Sporting have only won once in their past seven games in all competitions. Also on Sunday, it was Nacional 2, Leiria 2; Olhanense 2, Beira Mar 1; and Academica 0, Guimaraes 2.
GREECE
Greens have last laugh
Panathinaikos, who said referee Ilias Spathas’ decision to allow Sunday’s game to go ahead on PAS Giannena’s frozen pitch was “farcical comedy,” had the last laugh as they recorded a 1-0 victory. A goal by Brazilian Cleyton helped second-placed Panathinaikos keep up the pressure on Olympiakos Piraeus at the top of the league. The start was delayed by 40 minutes because parts of the pitch were frozen and the teams struggled to get their passing game going in sub-zero temperatures. Cleyton broke the deadlock with an acrobatic overhead effort in the 85th minute. “It was a difficult game, with difficult conditions for both sets of players,” he told reporters after the Greens moved within four points of Olympiakos with two games in hand. “We couldn’t really play football on this pitch in the condition it was in, but we managed to get ourselves in front and ... that’s all that matters.”
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