OLYMPICS
Japan, UAE qualify
Japan beat Bahrain 2-0 on Wednesday to secure a place in the men’s soccer tournament at the London Olympics, while the United Arab Emirates came from 2-0 down to beat Uzbekistan 3-2 and qualify for the first time in their history. A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake rattled the Tokyo area during the second half, but play continued at Tokyo’s National Stadium, and second-half goals from Takahiro Ogihara and Hiroshi Kiyotake earned Japan first place in Group C and an appearance in their fifth straight Olympics. Only the three group winners in Asia automatically qualified for London. South Korea had already made sure of winning Group A before Wednesday’s games and the UAE qualified from Group B in dramatic fashion. Hosts Uzbekistan looked to be on their way to qualification when they took the lead through midfielder Zoteev Oleg in the 34th minute and Fozil Musaev made it 2-0 shortly after halftime. However, UAE recovered thanks to two goals in four minutes from Khalil Ahmed, drawing his side level in the 55th minute, before substitute Saleh Haboosh scored the winner in stoppage-time. Uzbekistan head into a three-way playoff for the right to face the fourth-place team from Africa — Senegal — for the final place at the London Games. Syria beat Malaysia 3-0 to join Uzbekistan in the playoff beginning March 25 in Vietnam. Oman booked their place with a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia.
HONG KONG
Arsenal to face Kitchee FC
Arsenal will play in the territory for the first time in 17 years during their preseason tour of Asia this year. The Gunners will play Hong Kong champions Kitchee FC at the Hong Kong Stadium on July 29, two days after playing Manchester City in Beijing’s Olympic Stadium. Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: “We have many followers in Hong Kong and it’s wonderful that these special fans will have an opportunity to see the first team live in action.”
Olympics
Brazil names preliminary list
Two-time FIFA Player of the Year Ronaldinho has been included on the preliminary list of players who could make the squad for the London Olympics. Coach Mano Menezes announced on Wednesday that Ronaldinho made his initial list of 51 players. Other players older than 23 who made the list include Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar, AC Milan defender Thiago Silva, Barcelona rightback Daniel Alves and Chelsea defender David Luiz. Under-23 players Neymar, Paulo Henrique Ganso and Alexandre Pato were also picked. The Olympic tournament is the only significant soccer competition Brazil have yet to win.
WORLD CUP
Pele to discuss preparations
Brazilian great Pele is set to join FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in a meeting to discuss the 2014 World Cup preparations. FIFA said on Wednesday that Blatter and Rousseff both invited Pele, who is a 2014 World Cup ambassador. Blatter said he was “very pleased” that Pele would join them “for this important meeting” to “discuss the status of preparations and what needs to be done over the next few months to achieve the common goal of FIFA and the Brazilian government to stage a great FIFA Confederations Cup in June 2013 and a successful 2014 FIFA World Cup.” Blatter had asked for the meeting last week while apologizing for harsh remarks by FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke over Brazil’s preparations.
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