GREECE
Aris end Olympiakos streak
Super League leaders Olympiakos Piraeus’ perfect start to the season came to an end on Monday when they grabbed a point late on against Aris in a 2-2 draw. Leonardo Jardim’s team went into the match on the back of seven straight victories, but the visitors were behind twice and had to rely on an 83rd-minute equalizer by Greece international defender Jose Holebas with the hosts down to 10 men. Manolis Papasterianos gave Aris the lead after three minutes, only for Djamel Abdoun to level from the penalty spot six minutes later, before David Aganzo’s 79th-minute strike restored the hosts lead over the champions. However, when Nikos Psychogios was dismissed for a second bookable offense with nine minutes remaining it was 12th-placed Aris hanging on as Olympiakos, who top the table with 22 points from eight games, fought back through Holebas’ equalizer. Panionios are second on 18 points and PAOK are third with 17, while Panathinaikos continue to struggle in ninth with nine points following their 2-2 draw against OFI on Monday, where they were twice in front. There was joy for bottom club AEK on Sunday as the club picked up a vital first win of the season against Platanias in new coach Ewald Lienen’s second game in charge.
NORWAY
NFF proposes novel idea
The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) has a novel idea to even out one-sided matches — if a team go four goals down they can bring on another player, a proposal backed by former Norway international Henning Berg. “It’s a good rule that will lead to more even matches,” said Berg, who was capped 100 times by Norway. “It’s no fun to lose 17-0. It’s no fun to win 17-0 either.” Aalesund coach Kjetil Rekdal, who often partnered Berg in defense for the national side, was less enthusiastic. “It can be positive, to get more [people] active, but it can be negative if you destroy or punish those who are better,” he told Verdens Gang.
FRANCE
M’Vila and Mavinga return
Stade Rennais players Yann M’Vila and Chris Mavinga are back with the first team after being dropped and made to train with the youth team for eight days for disciplinary reasons. M’Vila and Mavinga were among five members of France’s under-21 squad who went to a nightclub between two playoff games for next year’s European Championships. Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti said no new sanctions would be imposed by the club regardless of what the French Football Federation’s disciplinary commission decides. The duo faces a hearing along with three international teammates on Thursday next week. M’Vila and Mavinga, along with Antoine Griezmann, Mbaye Niang and Wissam Ben Yedder, went out in Paris before the return match against Norway, when France lost 5-3 to end their qualification hopes.
BRAZIL
Injury sidelines Seedorf
Botafogo midfielder Clarence Seedorf will be sidelined for at least a week from the Brazilian league because of a right-thigh injury. Botafogo said on Monday that the Dutch player underwent tests, but that he requires a new medical evaluation next week to determine the seriousness of the injury. Seedorf had to be substituted just before halftime in Botafogo’s 4-0 win over Atletico Clube Goianiense on Saturday. He appeared to be in tears as he left the field. The 36-year-old Seedorf signed with Botafogo in July and has helped the team to sixth place in the 20-team standings, staying in contention for the Copa Libertadores next year.
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