Promoted Eintracht Braunschweig earned a 0-0 draw at bitter rivals Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga’s first Lower Saxony derby for 37 years on Friday.
The home side created most of the chances, but struggled to break down Braunschweig’s resilient defense, resulting in the Bundesliga’s 1,000th scoreless draw.
Senegalese striker Mame Biram Diouf was back from suspension for Hannover, but lacked the precision to make more of two good chances in the first half.
Photo: EPA
Then Braunschweig goalkeeper Daniel Davari almost cost his side the lead before the break when Edgar Prib intercepted his attempted clearance, only for the Hannover midfielder to graze the outside of the post from a difficult angle.
The visitors improved in the second half, but lacked the punch to score without the sidelined Karim Bellarabi.
Jeers rang out from disappointed Hannover supporters at the full-time whistle as their side’s winless run stretched to six games.
Photo: EPA
“We’re incredibly disappointed,” Hannover 96 general manager Dirk Dufner said. “We expected a lot more. Our fans were looking forward to this game so much, we wanted to reward them. Unfortunately we couldn’t manage it.”
Braunschweig, who are back in the Bundesliga after 28 years, moved provisionally off the bottom ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
“I’m not fully satisfied because we didn’t play our best football, but for my young players the whole buildup was a completely new dimension,” said Braunschweig coach Torsten Lieberknecht, whose side was in the third division four seasons ago. “I’m happy the game is over.”
There was some trouble involving fans before the derby and a heavy police presence to prevent any more afterwards. A flare also landed on the pitch during the game.
Hannover had asked for the match to be moved forward from today, the fourth anniversary of Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke’s suicide.
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