SPAIN
Pep to stay at Barca: priest
Barcelona fans who worried whether coach Pep Guardiola would decide not to extend his contract beyond the end of this season were given reassurance on Thursday, when his home-town priest said he was sure the former Barca and Spain midfielder would stay. Jean Hakolimana, a Rwandan who has since 2007 run the local church in Santpedor, where Guardiola was born, told Spanish radio he thought the 41-year-old was highly unlikely to leave, as he had such strong links to the Catalan club. “If anyone has doubts and that is their faith then they can pray for it, but I think he will stay,” Hakolimana said, adding that he last saw Guardiola three months ago and that the coach’s parents attend his church regularly. Guardiola, who has led Barca to 13 trophies since he took over in 2008, prefers to renew his contract on an annual basis and said on Saturday he needed more time to decide whether to stay on beyond the end of this season.
UNITED KINGDOM
Rangers’ Smith, Russel out
Administrators for stricken Scottish Premier League champions Rangers made its director of soccer, Gordon Smith, redundant on Thursday, as they cut costs to try to keep the Glasgow club going. The administrators have had talks with manager Ally McCoist about the potential impact of the crisis on the playing staff and said that Chief Operating Officer Ali Russell had also agreed to leave the club. Smith and Russell will stay on until the end of the month. Smith, a former Rangers player, left with a parting swipe, saying he was not allowed to do his job properly and focus on areas like transfers and youth development. “I wasn’t in control of any of these activities despite constantly making it clear to Craig Whyte that this was to be my remit,” he said in a statement released by Duff and Phelps.
ITALY
Ibrahimovic loses appeal
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has lost his appeal against the third game of his suspension and will miss leaders AC Milan’s top-of-the-table Serie A clash with unbeaten top scorers Juventus, who also boast the best defense. Banned for three matches for slapping an opponent against Napoli earlier this month, Ibrahimovic has already served two games and must now sit out tomorrow’s meeting at San Siro. “The decision of the appeal court of the soccer federation is unjust, because it has applied a sanction designed for violent acts to an act which was not violent,” an AC Milan statement said. “It is a grave error of judgement,” it added.
ZAMBIA
National team take time out
African champions Zambia will not play again until June after the team shelved a friendly against Gabon, instead opting to rest their players after their African Nations Cup exertions earlier this month, officials said. Earlier this week, Zambia said they were hoping to return to the scene of their penalty shootout final triumph against Ivory Coast for a friendly on Wednesday, but have now decided against those plans. “We started our training camp in South Africa in November and had the players together for a long time, so we feel it would be important for them to settle with their clubs and also have some rest,” Zambia Football Association spokesman Erick Mwanza said. He said Zambia had received an overwhelming number of requests to play matches in the wake of their first Nations Cup triumph, but had turned them down for the time being. Their next game will be a 2014 World Cup qualifier away to Sudan on June 2.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and