SOCCER
PSV go top in Eredivisie
PSV Eindhoven scored four first-half goals to beat De Graafschap 4-1 on Sunday and move back on top of the Dutch League on goal difference. Dries Mertens converted an eighth-minute penalty to open the scoring before Ola Toivonen, Tim Matavz and Jeremain Lens settled the match before the break. Gil Vermouth gave the visitors a consolation goal from close range in the 52nd minute. PSV have 45 points from 21 matches and are ahead of AZ Alkmaar, who beat Excelsior Rotterdam 2-0 on Saturday, on goal difference.
SOCCER
Tevez apology smooths issue
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has told Carlos Tevez that an apology over his touchline tantrum might be enough to end his exile. Tevez is reported to have said he would return to Manchester today after spending the past few months home in Argentina following his row with Mancini during a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich in September last year. The Argentina forward has not played for City since he refused to warm up during the Bayern defeat and he was expected to leave the Premier League club during last month’s transfer window, but City were unable to agree a deal with AC Milan, Inter and Paris Saint-Germain and Tevez has now indicated he is ready to resume his career with City.
RUGBY UNION
Lomu needs new kidney
New Zealand great Jonah Lomu said yesterday that medical tests had confirmed a donated kidney he received eight years ago had failed and he needs a new transplant. The former All Blacks wing said he had lost 30kg since his longstanding health problems re-emerged in September last year, telling the New Zealand Women’s Weekly “everybody has to die sometime” and revealing he needs dialysis three times a week to keep his renal system functioning. Lomu was diagnosed in 1995 with the rare kidney disorder nephrotic syndrome and underwent a transplant in 2004, receiving an organ donated by friend and New Zealand radio broadcaster Grant Kereama.
RUGBY SEVENS
Samoa beat NZ in the US
Alafoti Faosiliva scored his second try in the last moments on Sunday to give Samoa a 26-19 upset of season leaders New Zealand in the final of the US stage of the IRB Rugby Sevens World Series. The giant forward crashed in for the deciding points at the death to bring a victory in Samoa’s first Sevens series final since the Dubai Sevens in December 2010. The shocker thwarted a two-try New Zealand comeback that had pulled the favorites level only to see them denied a third consecutive series crown. New Zealand remained atop the Series after the fifth of nine rounds on 92 points to 87 for Fiji with South Africa third on 76, two ahead of England, and Samoa jumping to fifth in the chase on 69.
CRICKET
Clarke out with injury
Australia captain Michael Clarke has been ruled out of Friday’s triangular series match against Sri Lanka in Sydney with a right hamstring injury, Cricket Australia said yesterday. The selectors will name the Australia squad for the next bunch of matches in the series today, where they will also have to choose a replacement captain for Friday’s fixture. “Michael Clarke sustained a low grade right hamstring strain in the ODI [one-day international] versus India in Adelaide on Sunday,” Australia team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a statement.
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