BRAZIL
Fan declared brain dead
A Brazilian hospital says a Palmeiras fan has been declared brain dead, becoming the second casualty from a confrontation involving nearly 500 people from rival groups over the weekend. The Sao Camilo hospital said on Tuesday the 19-year-old fan remains on a ventilator, but will not recover from the head injuries sustained in Sunday’s fighting. His name was not immediately released. On Sunday, 21-year-old Palmeiras supporter Andre Alves died after being shot in the head in the confrontation. Two other fans remain hospitalized, a 17-year-old with head injuries and a 23-year-old who was shot in the hip and needed surgery.
ARGENTINA
Match behind closed doors
San Lorenzo will be forced to play their home match against Velez Sarsfield on Sunday behind closed doors, because of violence last weekend by its fans. Argentine football officials announced the move on Tuesday, following a weekend match against Colon in which San Lorenzo fans pelted the pitch with missiles after a disputed goal. In the same fixture a year ago, a San Lorenzo fan died after a confrontation with police outside the Velez Sarsfield Stadium. San Lorenzo is regarded as one of Argentina’s “big five” clubs, but is trying to fight off relegation to the second division.
ITALY
New Inter coach in ‘a dream’
Andrea Stramaccioni has described his promotion to become Inter’s third coach of the season as “a dream.” The 36-year-old stepped up from youth team coach to take over the first team on Monday, following the firing of Claudio Ranieri after six months in charge. Stramaccioni said at a news conference on Tuesday that the promotion was a “completely unexpected call,” but that it was a “dream that president [Massimo] Moratto has gifted to me and I hope to honor it.” Inter fired Ranieri after a run of just one win in its last 10 league matches, culminating in a 2-0 loss to archrival Juventus a day earlier.
GERMANY
Goetze stays at Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Goetze has extended his contract at the German champions by two years to 2016, ending speculation of a possible big-club move this year. The talented 19-year-old Germany international, considered one of the best prospects in Europe, has been at Dortmund for a decade and big European clubs have been circling in recent months eager to snatch him away. His previous contract ran until 2014. Among those who had publicly stated an interest are Arsenal, while several other English and Spanish clubs were reportedly after the player, who has won 12 caps and scored two goals for Germany.
WORLD CUP
Brazil delays crucial voting
A government leader in Brazil says voting on a key bill regulating the 2014 World Cup will not happen by the end of the month as wanted by FIFA. The government leader in the lower house, Arlindo Chinaglia, said on Tuesday that the vote on the bill which gives FIFA financial and legal guarantees to organize the event will likely be delayed for two weeks until after Easter. FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke had said he wanted the proposed law sanctioned by the end of this month, but the Brazilian government was struggling to gain full support in its congress because of text that authorized the sale of alcohol inside stadiums, currently against the law in Brazil. Other congressional matters also helped delay the vote.
VOLLEYBALL
Females can wear shorts
Female beach volleyball players will be allowed to compete in shorts rather than the standard bikinis at the London Olympics. The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) have brought in new rules regarding what women players can wear in a bid to make the sport more acceptable to countries with different cultural and religious beliefs. They will now have the option of playing in shorts and sleeved tops, but FIVB communications director Richard Baker denied officials were trying to rid women’s beach volleyball of its “sexy” image, saying players had always had an option of wearing more than a bikini, particularly in cold conditions. “The athletes have had a choice — a full body suit or the bikini — and we have now expanded that choice even further to cater for religious or cultural reasons,” he said. “We are not trying to steer away from a particular image ... we are just trying to expand that choice to incorporate more nations.”
BOXING
Bute becomes Canadian
Unbeaten boxer Lucian Bute, the reigning IBF super-middleweight champion, has become a Canadian citizen. The 32-year-old Romanian-born southpaw was sworn in on Monday by a judge at a citizenship ceremony at an elementary school in Montreal. Since 2007, Bute has been a permanent resident training in Montreal, where he moved to turn pro in 2003. Bute, 30-0 with 24 knockouts, won the IBF crown in Montreal in 2007 and has defended his title nine times since then.
TENNIS
Nadal quits ATP council
Rafael Nadal resigned as vice president of the ATP Player Council, saying he can no longer give the job the attention it needs. Nadal denied he was frustrated about unresolved issues in the sport. He pushed unsuccessfully for a two-year ranking system, a proposal opposed by other players, including council president Roger Federer. Nadal, Federer and others were in agreement on other issues, arguing that the major tournaments are too powerful and players need a stronger voice in decisions.
BASKETBALL
Spurs sign Patrick Mills
Australian point guard Patrick Mills signed with the San Antonio Spurs after playing in China during the NBA lockout. The former Portland Trail Blazers backup had been in talks with the Spurs since last week, but first needed to resolve work-visa issues. He averaged 5.1 points and about 11 minutes a game in two seasons with Portland. He essentially fills the void left by point guard T.J. Ford, who abruptly retired this month following another scare to his surgically repaired spine.
HOCKEY
Shtalenkov reported missing
Russian police launched a search for former Soviet and Russia ice hockey great Mikhail Shtalenkov after his wife reported him missing, local media reported on Tuesday. Reports said that the 46-year-old — who as a player won Olympic gold in 1992 and silver in 1998 — went missing on his way from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to his marital home on Sunday having rung his wife from the airport. He had just flown in from Magnitogorsk, where he is coaching goaltenders for the local club. Shtalenkov started his playing career at Dynamo Moscow and played seven seasons (1993-2000) with NHL clubs Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes and Florida Panthers. After hanging up his skates, Shtalenkov also coached Dynamo Moscow goaltenders.
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