The Czech Republic hung on to claim a point away to Denmark with a 0-0 draw in their opening 2014 World Cup qualifying match in Copenhagen on Saturday.
The Danes created several chances, but lacked bite without star striker Nicklas Bendtner who was serving a one-match ban for revealing a betting company logo on his underpants at the Euro 2012 tournament.
The home side’s best chance of the opening period was made by Michael Krohn-Dehli, who fired wide after chesting down a cross from the right in the Group B encounter.
Moments later, Dennis Rommedahl nodded wide as he tried to loop his header from Krohn-Dehli’s pass over keeper Petr Cech.
Denmark continued to press in the second half of the game, with seasoned winger Rommedahl tormenting the Czechs with a succession of dribbles, crosses and shots.
The Czech goalkeeper had to be on his toes to keep out a Christian Eriksen free-kick, and from the resulting corner Andreas Cornelius almost marked his Denmark debut with a goal.
The Danes were denied a late penalty when fullback Daniel Wass was bundled over in the area, but German referee Wolfgang Stark waved away their appeals.
In the opening Group B games on Friday, Armenia claimed a 1-0 victory in Malta, while Italy and Bulgaria played out a 2-2 draw in Sofia.
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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
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