A record seventh appearance by coach Claude Le Roy at the Africa Cup of Nations was back on track on Friday amid disarray in the Democratic Republic of the Congo camp one day before the tournament was due to kick off.
While denying a Congolese TV station report that he had quit in protest at poor management of the squad, Le Roy revealed his fury at a chaotic build-up in an interview with French radio station RFI.
“I never announced I was resigning, but I was very bitter to see that all our work had been screwed up [by a crisis over unpaid bonuses],” the 64-year-old coach said. “It is mad, devastating to wreck a preparation like this, with such a lack of respect. They are talking of players as if they were children whereas they are adults.”
“They are competing here [in South Africa] even though it will cost some of them money. Those who play in big clubs lose their bonuses and risk losing their place in the team,” he said.
“These players compete here because they are proud to wear their country’s shirt — and we are not talking about bonuses worth hundreds of thousands of euros per player,” Le Roy said.
The Frenchman led Cameroon to the Cup of Nations title in 1988, the same country to second place two years earlier, and Ghana to third place at the 2008 finals. He has also coached DR Congo and Senegal at the tournament.
Payment rows are a perennial feature of Africa Cup tournaments as players, coaches and officials argue over match appearance fees, win and draw bonuses, and special payments for reaching certain stages of the competition.
Meanwhile, star defender Stoppila Sunzu was due return to training with Zambia yesterday after spending a week on trial at relegation-threatened English Premier League outfit Reading.
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