SOCCER
Furth nets first league win
Felix Klaus made a slice of club history by scoring SpVgg Greuther Furth’s first-ever goal in the Bundesliga and earning the promoted club their first top-flight victory with a 1-0 win at Mainz on Friday. FSV Mainz 05 wasted a series of chances either side of halftime and it was Greuther Furth that took one of their very few opportunities when Klaus’ shot from inside the penalty area was deflected inside the far post. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting rounded Greuther Furth goalkeeper Max Gruen in the first half, but shot wide. Gruen made several outstanding saves, including a one-handed block on the line from a header by Nikolce Noveski late in the match. Greuther Fuerth lost 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich in the opening round, while Mainz drew 1-1 at Freiburg.
ICE HOCKEY
NHL union talks break off
Labor talks between the NHL and the union representing its players broke off on Friday with both sides at odds on the core economic issues, raising the possibility of a lockout in two weeks. With the NHL having already said it is prepared to lock out players if a new deal is not reached by the time the current one expires on Sept. 15, the league could be headed toward its first work stoppage since a lockout wiped out the 2004-2005 season. “What I thought was starting as a promising week ... ends in disappointment,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters after meeting with the union for the third time in four days. “We did not get a proposal from the union, call it more of a response. ... We both agreed when one of us has something to say, we will pick up the phone.” The NHL’s latest proposal wants to cut the players’ share of hockey-related revenue to 46 percent from 57 percent, despite enjoying record-breaking revenue of US$3.3. billion last season along with an increase in television ratings.
SOCCER
Japan to play Brazil friendly
Asian champions Japan are to taken on Brazil in Europe in a friendly next month as manager Alberto Zaccheroni continues his push to test his side against the world’s best teams. The Japan Football Association said Japan will face the five-time World Cup winners in Wrocklaw, Poland, on Oct. 16, four days after a scheduled game with France in Paris. “It’s very pleasing to get the chance to play two games against such strong opposition,” Zaccheroni, bidding to guide Japan to their fifth successive World Cup, told reporters. “It is important for Japan to challenge the best teams away from home.” The two games come before the resumption of the final round of Asian 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Japan comfortably lead their group with seven points from three matches.
SOCCER
FIFA tells Rio mayor to wait
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has been told by FIFA that he must wait until the 2014 World Cup final if he wants to see the host nation play a match in his city. Eduardo Paes has repeatedly told FIFA and the local organizing committee (LOC) that he would like to see Brazil play in Rio, soccer’s governing body said on Friday. However, FIFA, denying media reports that it was contemplating switching the match schedule to allow Brazil to play a quarter-final in Rio, said Paes would have to wait. “FIFA and the LOC would like to clarify the reports in the Brazilian media claiming a change in the match schedule for the World Cup in order to stage a quarter-final with potential Brazilian participation in Rio are incorrect,” FIFA said in a statement.
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