SOCCER
Galaxy rally to hold Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale and the Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Junior Lopes scored first-half goals as Spurs and the Galaxy played out a 1-1 draw in a friendly on Tuesday. Bale scored a brilliant 17th-minute header to give the English club the lead, but Brazilian defender Lopes scored from a pass by Hector Jimenez 11 minutes later to pull Los Angeles even. The Galaxy were without stars David Beckham, in London for the Olympics, and Landon Donovan, preparing for the MLS All-Star game against Chelsea. Tottenham, playing their first match of a three-game US tour, lost midfielder Rafael van der Vaart and fullback Kyle Walker to injury. Tottenham play against Liverpool in Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday and against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Tuesday.
OLYMPICS
Watson gets singles berth
Britain’s Heather Watson won a place in the main draw of the Olympic women’s singles on Tuesday after Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko withdrew due to a right-knee injury. Bondarenko has not played since October last year because of the injury. Former US Open junior champion Watson was the first reserve in singles following her rise up the world rankings to No. 67 after reaching the third round at Wimbledon, where she lost to runner-up Agnieska Radwanksa of Poland. Watson is the third British woman in the London Olympics singles event, alongside Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, and she is also playing in the women’s doubles with Laura Robson.
SOCCER
Pompey facing shutdown
The administrator of crisis-hit English side Portsmouth said the club would be shut down on Aug. 10 unless all senior players on the books accept compromise wage deals or agree to transfers before that date. British media reported on Wednesday that Trevor Birch revealed he would have “no option” but to liquidate the League One (third tier) club by that deadline if agreement was not reached with the seven remaining senior players. Both interested purchasers — former owner Balram Chainrai and the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust — have stipulated that their attempts to complete a takeover were dependent upon settlements being reached with those high wage earners. “The facts are straightforward — under the terms of the offer for the club, the players have to leave and conclude compromise settlements,” joint administrator Birch told reporters.
OLYMPICS
Cops find arm, save the day
French police have saved the day for a long jumper planning to take part in the London Paralympics after the athlete had his prosthetic arm stolen by a pair of assailants, officials said on Tuesday. Arnaud Assoumani, who took gold in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and set a new world record with a jump of 7.23m, was set upon on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Bobigny by two men who sprayed him with tear gas. They stole his scooter in which he had placed his prosthetic arm, the local town hall said in a statement, and added that without the arm he might not have been able to take part in the Games, but police in a nearby suburb arrested a man on Sunday who admitted to being one of the thieves. He led officers to a bush where he had discarded the arm, the statement said.
FOOTBALL
Penn State’s record voided
The governing body of US college sports refrained from delivering the “death penalty” to Penn State’s storied football program on Monday, but it effectively put it into a coma that will last half a decade or longer, college football experts said. “They don’t matter anymore after these sanctions today,” said Jed Donahue, owner of the Pennsylvania Sports Network and a radio sports talk host for 20 years. In an unprecedented rebuke to the university and its football program for failing to stop one-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children, the NCAA fined Penn State US$60 million to be used to fund a foundation to help victims of child sex abuse, voided 14 seasons of victories, slashed the number of football scholarships it may hand out and banned it from playing in post-season bowl games.
OLYMPICS
Cabral out of Brazil team
Brazil’s first-choice goalkeeper Rafael Cabral has been withdrawn from their Games soccer squad with an injury to his right elbow, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said on Tuesday. A scan showed the 22-year-old’s elbow was badly bruised during practice on Monday and he would not recover in time to take part in the men’s soccer tournament at the Games, team doctor Jose Luis Runco said. Coach Mano Menezes has promoted 23-year-old Neto as first choice and Gabriel, 19, will be the reserve, CBF media officer Rodrigo Paiva said. Renan Ribeiro has been put on standby. Favorites Brazil are looking for their first men’s soccer gold medal and kick off against Egypt in Group C tomorrow. They also meet Belarus and New Zealand.
SOCCER
Chelsea reunite brothers
Chelsea have signed Lens teenage midfielder Thorgan Hazard who joins his older brother, Eden, at the European champions, the Premier League club said on Tuesday. Thorgan, 19, is two years younger than Belgian international Eden, who signed for Chelsea from Lille last month, and can play in a similar range of attacking midfield positions. He has played for Belgium in several age groups and was part of the squad for last year’s European Under-19 Championship. He is to join Chelsea’s Under-21 squad for pre-season training with a loan move being considered so he can continue his development, the club added on their Web site. The Hazards, whose parents were soccer players, were both at Belgian team Tubize and could join a long list of brothers to play for Chelsea, including Ray and Graham Wilkins, Ron and Allan Harris, John and Peter Sillett and Chris and William Ferguson.
SOCCER
FA charges Frimpong
Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong has been charged by the English Football Association (FA) with improper conduct for allegedly posting anti-Semitic comments on Twitter. The FA says Frimpong used a “reference to ethnic origin, faith or race” in response to an abusive tweet aimed at him on Sunday. The post has since been removed. In a statement on its Web site, the FA said on Tuesday that Frimpong is suspected of posting comments “amounting to improper conduct and/or which brought the game into disrepute.” The soccer body gave Frimpong until tomorrow to respond to the charge. The 20-year-old player is recovering from knee injury while on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two