MATCH-FIXING
Besiktas, Steaua probed
European governing body UEFA said on Monday it had opened match-fixing investigations into Turkish side Besiktas, while Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest could face expulsion from the UEFA Champions League over a previous offense. Steaua’s president Gigi Becali, who was already serving a prison sentence for corruption, was condemned to another three years of incarceration last week for having offered bribes to players from a rival team, Universitatea Cluj, in 2008. Under the criteria with regard to being eligible for the Champions League, UEFA can bar any club that has either been directly or indirectly involved in match-fixing. However, UEFA has not divulged the exact nature of the charges laid against either Steaua or Besiktas. Two Besiktas officials are under investigation relating to the 2011 Turkish Cup final, which the club won on penalties against Istanbul BB. The two cases are due to be heard by the UEFA disciplinary commission on June 21 in Nyon, Switzerland. The next day, the commission is to hear the case of another Istanbul club, Fenerbahce, who, along with five of their officials, are suspected of fixing matches as well.
PARAGUAY
Gerardo Pelusso resigns
Gerardo Pelusso resigned as national coach on Monday after the team saw its chances of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals all but ended on Friday last week. The 59-year-old Uruguayan — who as a coach has won five national league titles spread over three South American countries — took the decision after Paraguay lost 2-1 at home to Chile. He has only been in the post since last year. Paraguay, who are bottom of the table on eight points with four games remaining, but retain a slim mathematical chance of still qualifying, have qualified for the past four World Cup finals, losing to eventual champions Spain in the 2010 quarter-final. They also reached the 2011 Copa America final where they lost to Uruguay.
SPAIN
Albelda to leave Valencia
Valencia captain David Albelda has not been offered a new contract and the defensive midfielder will leave the club after 15 years’ service, the Spanish side said on Monday. “[Albelda] ends a brilliant 15 seasons at the Mestalla, in which he won two La Liga titles, a UEFA Cup, a European Super Cup, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup,” Valencia said in a statement on their Web site. The club said the reasons for not extending Albelda’s contract were explained to the 35-year-old at a meeting earlier on Monday attended by new club president Amadeo Salvo and coach Miroslav Djukic, who played alongside Albelda. Former Serbia coach Djukic was appointed to replace Ernesto Valverde last week. Albelda has played almost his entire career at Valencia and he also won 51 caps for Spain, competing at the World Cup in 2002 and 2006, and at Euro 2004.
ENGLAND
Weimann inks new Villa deal
Austria international striker Andreas Weimann gave last season’s Premier League strugglers Aston Villa a much-needed morale boost on Monday by signing a new three-year contract. The 21-year-old — who has been at Villa since he was 15 — scored 12 goals last season which helped Villa preserve their status among the elite. His goals also earned him the appreciation of manager Paul Lambert, who preferred him to Darren Bent. “I’m really happy that I’ve signed. I love the club and it’s been brilliant for me, for I have a feeling of being at home here at Aston Villa,” Weimann said.
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