SOCCER
Pear attack ends match
A Swedish league match between Djurgardens IF and Mjallby AIF was abandoned on Monday after a Mjallby player was hit by a pear. Angry fans at Djurgardens’ stadium in Stockholm threw bottles, coins, fruit and other objects onto the pitch as Mjallby’s players celebrated a goal in the 37th minute. Television footage showed Mjallby defender Gbenga Arokoyo falling to the ground after an object hit him in the stomach. Swedish broadcaster SVT said it was a pear. Arokoyo said after the game he was in pain, but not seriously injured. The referee and his assistants decided to abandon the game after a meeting with police and representatives from both clubs. It was not immediately clear when and if the match would be resumed.
SOCCER
Two stabbed as fans clash
Two people were stabbed after rival groups of fans clashed in Rome ahead of the Serie A derby between AS Roma and SS Lazio, police said on Monday. Television pictures showed police in riot gear scuffling with a group of supporters, who threw rocks and bottles near Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said that businesses in the area around the stadium had been forced to close during the clashes. Last year, 10 supporters of English club Tottenham Hotspur were injured in a knife attack by masked assailants in Rome ahead of a Europa League match with Lazio.
RUGBY UNION
Fillol cited for spitting
Stade Francais scrumhalf Jerome Fillol was cited on Monday for spitting at Bath counterpart Peter Stringer during Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final, the European Rugby Cup (ERC) said. The 35-year-old has been cited for an “action that goes against the spirit of sport,” the ERC said, adding that he could face a suspension of between four and 52 weeks. Television images from the match at Bath’s Recreation Ground showed Fillol spitting in the former Ireland scrumhalf’s face. On Sunday, Stringer, also 35, wrote on Twitter: “Disgusted at what happened yesterday in the game. No place for it in rugby or any walk of life.” Stade’s prop Rabah Slimani was also cited for a dangerous tackle that earned him a yellow card.
BASKETBALL
Love to go under the knife
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love will undergo surgery on his left knee later this week, ending an injury-plagued season for the fifth-year NBA standout, the team said on Monday. Love, who played in only 18 games, will have an arthroscopic procedure to remove scar tissue that has collected in his knee. Recovery time from the surgery is usually four to six weeks. The Timberwolves, at 29-47, are out of NBA playoff contention. Love, 24, has missed Minnesota’s past 47 games following surgery on a broken right hand he suffered on Jan. 3. Love had sustained a fracture to the same hand during a pre-season workout that caused him to miss Minnesota’s first nine games.
ICE HOCKEY
Emelin out for the season
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin will miss the rest of the season because of a torn knee ligament. The 26-year-old Russian was hurt as he tried to check Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins on Saturday. He has three goals and nine assists in 38 games in his second NHL season. Last season, he had three goals and four assists in 67 games. The Canadiens also announced the recall of Nathan Beaulieu to replace Emelin.
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