SOCCER
Taiwan lose to Hong Kong
Taiwan fell to a 2-0 defeat against the hosts in East Asian Cup qualifying at Hong Kong Stadium on Friday. Chan Waiho and Lee Honglim scored in the 24th and 25th minutes for Hong Kong to consolidate third position in the five-team tournament. Taiwan are fourth above Guam on goal-difference after the bottom-placed side finished their tournament earlier with a 9-0 drubbing by Australia. Archie Thompson scored a hat-trick for the Socceroos, Eli Babalj added a brace, while Aaron Mooy, Michael Marrone, Mark Milligan and Richard Garcia also netted. North Korea top the standings on goals scored, with the same points and goal-difference as Australia. The winner will be decided in the final round of matches today when Hong Kong take on North Korea, followed by Taiwan against the Socceroos.
SOCCER
Redknapp is party pooper
Queens Park Rangers’ new manager Harry Redknapp has applauded his players’ decision to cancel their Christmas party with the struggling west London side anchored at the bottom of the Premier League. “I’m not a fan of Christmas parties and we’ve got nothing to celebrate,” Redknapp told a news conference ahead of yesterday’s clash away to Wigan Athletic. “We need to focus on our football now — it’s the busiest time of the year. If we get out of this situation we can have a great big party at the end of the season.” During his time as Tottenham manager Redknapp banned his players from holding a Christmas party after finding out that Irish striker Robbie Keane had organized a secret trip to Dublin in 2009.
TENNIS
Murray swears off cursing
US Open champion Andy Murray is cleaning up his act after promising to stop swearing while on court. The Scot has been warned about his language during matches in the past, but he believes non-Anglophone players get away with worse outbursts because umpires cannot understand what they are saying. “Obviously, me saying shit or whatever is bad and wrong, and it’s something I want to try to stop doing,” Murray said, according to Scottish newspaper the Daily Record. “But it isn’t as bad as some of the stuff the foreign players come out with. I wouldn’t want to name any names, but some of what they say is ghastly. It’s just that all of the umpires speak English.” Murray, who became Great Britain’s first male Grand Slam winner in 76 years when he won the US Open earlier this year, says his no-swearing campaign will begin at the Australian Open next month. The 25-year-old was given an official warning for bad language at the Rome Masters this year and was also warned about his swearing at last year’s Paris Masters.
SOCCER
Toulouse poor run continues
Toulouse’s miserable run continued as they were held to a 0-0 draw by visiting SC Bastia in their Ligue 1 clash on Friday. Toulouse climbed to second place in the French league a little more than one month ago, but have since won only one of their last six league games to drop down to eighth spot. Bastia are 12th after their second straight 0-0 draw. Brazilian striker Ilan almost won the match for Bastia in the 86th minute but his header went just wide. In a game of few chances, Toulouse winger Franck Tabanou went close with a curling free-kick in the 80th.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two