SINGAPORE
Referee, player charged
Singapore has charged a referee and a player with conspiring to fix the result of a Malaysian Super League game. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said referee Shokri Nor and former player Thana Segar, both Malaysians, agreed to take a bribe of 15,000 ringgit (US$4,755) to fix last Tuesday’s match between Singapore’s Lions XII and Sarawak FA. The bureau said Nor was scheduled to officiate the game, but was arrested and replaced on the day of the match when police learned of the plot. If found guilty, the men face a fine of up to S$100,000 (US$78,211) or a maximum jail term of five years, or both.
FIFA
Hawk-Eye to be tested
FIFA says the Hawk-Eye goal-line technology system will be tested at Wembley Stadium in London when England plays Belgium in a friendly on June 2. It is the final scheduled test of Hawk-Eye in a recognized match before FIFA’s rules-making panel meets on July 2 in Kiev. The panel, known as IFAB, is considering whether to approve the English camera-based system or the Danish project, GoalRef, for use. GoalRef, which uses magnetic sensors to track the ball’s path, is being tested in Danish league matches. FIFA says test results during the game will not be available to match officials and will not influence the result. Hawk-Eye has been tested at a semiprofessional match played in Southampton last week.
CHINA
Batista in Shanghai for talks
Former Argentina national coach Sergio Batista landed at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport yesterday for talks with Chinese soccer club Shanghai Shenhua about becoming their new boss. When asked whether he was in town to sign for the club as their manager, the 49-year-old simply nodded. Club spokesperson Ma Yue was at the airport to greet him. “We are close to signing him as head coach, there are just a few details to sort out,” he said, adding that Batista would not be ready to take charge for Sunday’s Chinese Super League game at home to Guizhou Renhe. One of Batista’s party, who did not give his name, but identified himself as the Argentine’s manager, said Batista is set to sign a formal contract today. With Chinese clubs enjoying a boom with heavy financial investment, instant results are expected. League leaders Guangzhou Evergrande sacked Lee Jang-soo last week and replaced him with former World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi, despite the South Korean winning the Chinese league title last year and getting them through to the last 16 of the Asian Champions League. Shangai languish in 14th place of 16 teams in the Super League, with just 11 points from 11 matches — 14 points behind the leaders.
COPA LIBERTADORES
Santos through to semis
Defending champion Santos defeated Argentina’s Velez Sarsfield on penalties on Thursday to advance to the semi-finals. Alan Kardec scored in the 78th minute to give Santos a 1-0 victory in the return leg and force a penalty shootout in Santos, Brazil. Velez won the first leg last week 1-0 in Buenos Aires. Under tournament rules, no extra time was played, with the decision coming immediately on penalties. Santos won 4-2. Velez Sarsfield played with 10 men after the 40th minute, when ’keeper Marcelo Barovero was sent off following a reckless tackle on Neymar just across the 18m line as both raced for a loose ball.
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