SOCCER
PSV win Dutch Super Cup
PSV Eindhoven coach Dick Advocaat and captain Mark van Bommel celebrated their return to the club with a 4-2 victory over champions Ajax to claim the Dutch Super Cup on Sunday. Advocaat is back coaching in the Dutch league after 14 years with a mission to win the title and take PSV back to the Champions League, which they have not graced for four seasons. PSV dominated from the start and took a 2-0 lead after just 11 minutes, with midfielder Van Bommel, who last played for the club in 2005 before joining Barcelona, driving them forward. Sweden forward Ola Toivonen netted at the front post from a Dries Mertens corner after three minutes for the Dutch Cup winners and Jeremain Lens doubled their lead after recovering the ball up in midfield and finishing with a superb chip. Ajax defender Toby Alderweireld was the most dangerous player for the injury-hit champions, whose average age was less than 23. He had a header cleared off the line by Van Bommel early on, but pulled a goal back on the stroke of halftime. Eight minutes after the break, PSV left back Jetro Willems’ fine individual run took him past three players, before he set up Toivonen to restore a two-goal lead. Marcelo’s own goal 15 minutes from time raised Ajax’s hopes of drawing level, but PSV substitute Georginio Wijnaldum wrapped up the win when he ran onto a Lens’ pass to score in stoppage-time.
SOCCER
Rubin Kazan signs Rondon
Malaga’s Venezuelan international forward Salomon Rondon has signed a four-year deal with Russian first division side Rubin Kazan, the Spanish club confirmed on Sunday. The 22-year-old from Caracas will become the first Venezuelan to play in Russia. Rondon has scored 23 goals in 60 matches during his two seasons with Malaga, who qualified for the Champions League after finishing fourth last season.
RUGBY UNION
Chiefs coach burglarized
Burglars ransacked the home of Waikato Chiefs coach Dave Rennie while his side were winning a maiden Super 15 title in Hamilton, he has revealed. Rennie said his Huntington home was badly damaged when thieves stole a safe holding his wife’s jewelry as the Chiefs cruised to a 36-7 victory over South Africa’s Coastal Sharks at Waikato Stadium, a few kilometers away. Rennie believed he had been deliberately targeted because the burglars knew he would be at Saturday’s game, with star center Sonny Bill Williams the victim of a similar burglary in May during a match against the Northern Bulls.
Golf
Henry wins Reno-Tahoe
American J.J. Henry posted seven points in the fourth round to win the PGA Tour’s US$3 million Reno-Tahoe Open by one point over Brazil’s Alexandre Rocha. Henry finished with 43 points in the Stableford scoring system, which awards eight points for double eagles, five for eagles, two for birdies, zero for pars. One point is subtracted for bogeys and three points deducted for double-bogey or worse. Henry led going into the final round and then hung on for his second USPGA Tour title. Brazil’s Alexandre Rocha carded three birdies in the last six holes to close the gap at the Montreaux Golf and Country Club. He earned nine points on Sunday, to end with 42. Argentina’s Andres Romero finished third with 37 points after scoring a half dozen points in the final round. American John Mallinger had two points Sunday to finish by himself in fourth with 34. John Daly (five) and Justin Leonard (seven) shared fifth place with 33 points.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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