Paris Saint-Germain’s domestic dominance continued on Wednesday when the Qatar-backed club qualified for the French League Cup quarter-finals by knocking out holders Olympique de Marseille with a 2-0 win at the Parc des Princes.
Thiago Silva converted a spot kick after l’OM were reduced to 10 men before the break and Jeremy Menez wrapped it up in the second half as PSG smoothly advanced.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side took full advantage after Marseille defender Rod Fanni was shown a straight red card in the 28th minute for a foul on Menez in the box.
Thiago Silva converted the resulting penalty by wrong footing Steve Mandanda and Mareseille, who won the last three editions of the competition, barely bothered the hosts.
Menez made it 2-0 five minutes into the second half, firing home from close range after collecting a brilliant Javier Pastore through-ball.
PSG were joined in the last eight by Montpellier Herault and OGC Nice on Wednesday.
French champions Montpellier needed just one Jonathan Tinhan goal to prevail 1-0 at home to Girondins de Bordeaux, who failed to level the match after Cyril Jeunechamps was sent off eight minutes from time.
Olympique Lyonnais were knocked out 3-1 at Nice, conceding three goals in the first 15 minutes.
Bafetimbi Gomis canceled out Valentin Eysseric’s opener, only for Mahamane Traore and Renato Civelli to score for Nice in the ninth and 15th minutes respectively after some awful defending by the visitors.
The SC Bastia-AJ Auxerre game was called off because of bad weather, with the French League having yet to set another date.
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