Ivory Coast beat Gambia 3-0 in FIFA World Cup qualifying on Saturday, while Ethiopia and Zambia gained crucial victories that put South Africa and Ghana at risk of missing out on soccer’s top tournament.
Lacina Traore, Wilfried Bony and Yaya Toure scored in Gambia for Ivory Coast, keeping Africa’s top-ranked team in control of Group C and on course for a place in the decisive five final playoffs as one of 10 qualifying group winners.
In Group A, Ethiopia’s run continued with a 2-1 win in Botswana to stay two points ahead of 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa and a step closer to a first appearance at the World Cup in Brazil next year.
Photo: AFP
South Africa beat the Central African Republic 3-0 in neutral Cameroon, but they have just two games left in the group stage to overhaul a two-point deficit.
Africa’s only quarter-finalists at the last World Cup, Ghana, are also in danger of missing out following Zambia’s 4-0 win over Lesotho, which kept the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations champions a point ahead of the Black Stars, who won 3-1 in Sudan on Friday.
Tunisia were held 2-2 in Sierra Leone, coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 down with Fakhreddine Ben Youssef scoring a 90th-minute equalizer in Freetown.
That still left Tunisia with a four-point lead atop Group B and in pole position for the all-or-nothing playoffs after Cape Verde’s 2-1 win over Equatorial Guinea.
Republic of Congo were the surprise leaders of Group E, holding a six-point advantage after drawing 0-0 in Gabon ahead of Africa Cup of Nations finalists Burkina Faso’s meeting with Niger yesterday, while Senegal head a tight Group J after giving up an early lead against Angola via striker Papiss Cisse to draw 1-1. Uganda beat Liberia 1-0 to close within a point of Senegal.
Ivory Coast cruised past Gambia for a third win out of four in their group, with midfielder Toure capping a smooth display with his late goal. Closest challengers Tanzania lost 2-1 in Morocco later on Saturday.
South Africa overcame a grueling 36-hour trip to Yaounde after travel problems to beat the Central African Republic with goals by Bernard Parker, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Katlego Mphela, but Ethiopia, who returned to the Africa Cup of Nations after a long absence this year, maintained their push for an historic World Cup appearance with victory in Gaborone. Ethiopia and South Africa meet in the crucial next round.
Jacob Mulenga had a brace for Zambia, who have also never been to the World Cup finals. Ghana kept up the chase with the help of a brace from striker Asamoah Gyan in Sudan.
Tunisia’s hopes were boosted with Cape Verde’s victory over Equatorial Guinea, preventing the former Africa Cup of Nations hosts from closing the gap on the North Africans, while the Republic of Congo are also closing in on the playoffs along with Senegal.
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