FRANCE
Toothless Marseille held
Olympique de Marseille’s title hopes suffered another setback on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by AC Ajaccio. It was the second successive goalless draw for Elie Baup’s team following last weekend’s stalemate with title rivals Lyon. Third-placed Marseille moved to 51 points, six behind league leaders Paris Saint-Germain who go to AS Saint-Etienne today and two behind Olympique Lyonnais who were at SC Bastia yesterday.
CROATIA
Dinamo chief in hot water
Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb’s chief Zdravko Mamic was detained on Friday after making slurs against an ethnic Serb minister, police said. Mamic was detained for questioning by Zagreb police after insulting Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic, who he labelled “Croatophobe” in an interview to a local radio station. Jovanovic “hates everything Croatian,” Mamic told the Soundset radio, adding the minister was an “insult to the Croatian brain.” “When he looks at you, blood squirts from his eyes ... Looking at his smile, one can only see eye-teeth ready for slaughter,” Mamic said.
GREECE
Rehhagel faces tough task
He pulled off one of soccer’s greatest upsets. Now Otto Rehhagel has been handed a task equally challenging: to make Germany popular again in crisis-hit Greece. Germany’s embassy in Athens said on Friday that the 74-year-old would visit Greece this month as a goodwill ambassador. The German led Greece to a stunning victory in the 2004 European Championships, building a team that went on to qualify for two other European tournaments and the 2010 World Cup. Germany is the lead creditor in Greece’s financial bailout program, but its reputation has been hit by successive austerity measures that have caused an increase in poverty and unemployment.
SPAIN
Depor boost survival hopes
Bottom club RC Deportivo de La Coruna boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation by beating 10-man RC Celta de Vigo 3-1 in the Galician derby on Friday, a first victory in 10 La Liga outings. Forward Riki fired the home team ahead in the ninth minute at the Riazor when he controlled a Juan Carlos Valeron pass with his thigh and volleyed brilliantly past goalkeeper Javi Varas. Celta were reduced to 10 men in the 29th minute when striker Iago Aspas was shown a straight red card for butting Depor defender Carlos Marchena in the face. Silvio made it 2-0 in the 64th minute with a stunning long-range volley and substitute Diogo Salomao added a third goal 14 minutes later, moments after replacing Riki. Park Chu-young pulled a goal back for Celta 10 minutes from time, but it did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the home supporters.
GERMANY
Wolfsburg held at home
Ivica Olic scored for VfL Wolfsburg to salvage a 1-1 draw at home with promoted side Fortuna Duesseldorf in the Bundesliga on Friday. Olic struck with a low shot past Fabian Giefer in the 51st minute, cancelling out Mathis Bolly’s 38th-minute strike for the visitors. Wolfsburg remained 12th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games, while Duesseldorf climbed two places to 13th. “I think the draw was fair. With a bit of luck we could have won, with a little bad luck we could have lost,” said Duesseldorf midfielder Adam Bodzek.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two