CANADA
Arnaud death threat probed
The Montreal Impact and Major League Soccer have filed a complaint with police after captain Davy Arnaud received death threats on Twitter. The team said Montreal police have opened an investigation and will interview the person who posted the tweet. The threats were made after a June 29 home loss to Colorado. A late turnover by Arnaud set up the winning Colorado goal in injury-time. Arnaud retweeted a message that said: “I hope your family dies in a fire.” The author appears to be a local fan. Arnaud answered: “wow. I know we lost and I made a mistake but I deserve this? I forgive you.” “The Impact is taking this incident very seriously and will not accept threats of any kind made by individuals in regards to its players, coaches or administrative staff in order to ensure their safety,” the team said in a statement.
BULGARIA
CSKA Sofia find new owners
Debt-ridden CSKA Sofia finally managed to find new owners to snatch them from the brink of insolvency on Wednesday, the club said. “Today we signed an agreement to transfer the ownership of CSKA to the group ‘Red Champions.’ The club’s shares were already deposed with the buyer,” a statement on CSKA’s Web site said. The “Red Champions” initiative — comprising seven businessmen and keen CSKA fans who refused to be named — took over all operations at the club yesterday, even though the deal still requires approval by Bulgaria’s competition watchdog, the club added. The new owners have said they will cover 10 million to 11 million leva (US$6.5 million to US$7.2 million) — about half — of CSKA’s debts to its players and to the Bulgarian tax authorities. Old owners Titan will take or write off the rest.
ENGLAND
Everton sign Barca prodigy
Everton manager Roberto Martinez sealed his fourth signing in the space of three days as Barcelona teenager Gerard Deulofeu joined the Premier League club on a season-long loan on Wednesday. Deulofeu scored 18 times in 33 matches for Barcelona’s B side last season and also made a handful of substitute appearances for the Spanish champions. The 19-year-old was rewarded with a long-term contract earlier in the close-season, but Barca are willing to loan him to Everton in a bid to further his development. Martinez has moved quickly to secure the teenager’s services, making his fourth signing after previously raiding his former club Wigan Athletic for striker Arouna Kone and defender Antolin Alcaraz, as well as landing Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Joel Robles.
GERMANY
Dortmund challenge Bayern
With three new additions to their squad, Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund have insisted European champions Bayern Munich will not have it all their own way this season. Dortmund secured their latest new signing on Tuesday when midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined from Shakhtar Donestk, having also recruited AS Saint-Etienne forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 24, and defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, 25, from Werder Bremen. Mkhitaryan, 24, impressed on Wednesday when the trio made their debuts in a 3-1 friendly win over Swiss champions FC Basel, with the Armenian setting up the first goal and scoring the second. Borussia host Bayern in the pre-season German Super Cup on July 27 in a repeat of the Champions League, which the Bavarians won 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in London.
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