SOCCER
France U21 players scolded
France manager Didier Deschamps criticized the “intolerable behavior” of five players from the under-21 France squad on Tuesday for going to a nightclub between two playoff games for next year’s junior European Championship. Midfielders Yann M’Vila and Wissam Ben Yedder, winger Antoine Griezmann, striker Mbaye Niang and defender Chris Mavinga all left the Le Havre training camp late at night and drove two hours to Paris and back before the return match against Norway last week. France lost that match 5-3 to end its qualification hopes and under-21 manager Erick Mombaerts quit immediately after the defeat. “I have a big problem accepting what happened between the two games because it led to a sporting failure that cost the coach his job,” Deschamps said in an interview with Eurosport. “It was intolerable behavior on the part of the players.” M’Vila and Mavinga have both been dropped by Stade Rennais and ordered to train and play for the reserves until further notice. Deschamps insists M’Vila, touted as a major talent two years ago, still has a future with France if his attitude improves.
CRICKET
Murali to coach NZ bowlers
Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker, Muttiah Muralitharan, will be asked to pass on his expertise to New Zealand’s bowlers and batsmen on their tour of Sri Lanka, the country’s head coach has said. The New Zealand-based members of the team leave for the tour, which includes a Twenty20 match, five one-day internationals and two Tests, today with new bowling coach Shane Bond making his first tour with the side. The former New Zealand paceman was only appointed to the role last week and has had little to do with spin bowlers throughout his career, hence head coach Mike Hesson’s decision to seek Muralitharan’s help. The 40-year-old off-spinner retired from the longer form of the game in 2010, capturing his 800th wicket with the final ball of his Test career.
BASKETBALL
Nowitzki encouraged
Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki says he felt encouraged after the first knee surgery of his career, but says a timetable for his return is “pretty ridiculous to talk about.” Nowitzki walked gingerly, but without a noticeable limp, on Tuesday, four days after arthroscopic surgery on his ailing right knee. Macericks coach Rick Carlisle said the 11-time All-Star was expected to miss six weeks. The 34-year-old Nowitzki battled soreness and swelling in the knee throughout training camp and only played in one preseason game — the opener in his native Germany. Nowitzki has never missed more than nine games in a season during his 14-year career.
BOXING
Berto insists he is clean
Even after a failed doping test earlier this year, Andre Berto insists he has always been a clean fighter. The former welterweight champion believes the only way to overcome the stigma on his name is by getting back in the ring with his eyes on another belt. Berto and Robert Guerrero met on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum to announce their Nov. 24 welterweight title bout in Ontario, California. Berto said he realizes his reputation was indelibly stained by a positive test for norandrosterone in May. The fighter and his camp claimed the positive test resulted from contamination. The California State Athletic Commission believed them, licensing Berto in August. Guerrero said he has no idea whether Berto is telling the truth.
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