SOCCER
Brazil fines FIFA
FIFA has been fined over ticketing problems which arose at a Confederations Cup match in Brazil in June, media and consumer organizations said on Thursday. Consumer body Procon indicated a civil ruling had been made against FIFA in the northeastern city of Recife, following a case brought on behalf of eight fans who said they were unable to access their seats for the June 16 Confederations Cup match between Spain and Uruguay. Procon said FIFA and its operational services provider Match had both been fined 500,000 reais (US$210,000). One fan received 2,000 reais in compensation, with others receiving smaller sums after a magistrate ruled that their consumer rights had been breached. The fans said they had tickets to be seated near the action, but that they were reassigned to seats further up in the stands, some with a poor view of the pitch. Sports daily Lance quoted the director of Procon’s Recife office, Jose Neves, as saying that “we received various complaints” from fans and that the case augured badly for next year’s World Cup, which Brazil is to host. Meanwhile, Globo daily described the outcome as a “first defeat for FIFA before Brazilian justice.”
SOCCER
Former youth star dies
Wayne Harrison, who once signed for Liverpool for £250,000 (US$412,000), making him the world’s most expensive teenage soccer player before his career spiraled into decline, has died at the age of 46, local media said. The Liverpool Echo reported that Harrison, who retired in 1991, had suffered from pancreatic problems and died in hospital on Christmas Day. Harrison was tipped for stardom when he moved to Liverpool from Oldham in 1985 at just 17, having made only five first-team appearances. He was on the verge of appearing for the Anfield giants for the first time when he fell through a greenhouse. At the time the local ambulance service was on strike and he came close to death through loss of blood before army medics managed to get him to hospital. He went on to fall through his loft before, at the age of just 22, he suffered a career-ending cruciate knee ligament injury in the last minute of a reserve game.
TENNIS
Spain loses injured player
Spain’s Tommy Robredo has an arm injury and has withdrawn from the Hopman mixed teams tournament, which is set to begin today. Tournament officials did not give any additional details yesterday on the injury, saying No. 18 Robredo would be replaced by 194th-ranked Daniel Munoz-De La Nava. Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz withdrew with a foot injury a week ago and was replaced by Grzegorz Panfil, who will team with Agnieszka Radwanska. Australia, represented by Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur, are to begin play today against Canada’s Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard at the Perth Arena. Poland is to play Italy in the other Group A match.
CRICKET
Philander picked for T20s
South Africa have included the world’s No. 1 Test bowler, Vernon Philander, in their preliminary 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 tournament to be played in Bangladesh next year. Philander played the last of his seven Twenty20 international matches in 2007, but his recall to the one-day international setup suggested the Proteas were ready to use him in the shortest format of the game as well. The squad, to be captained by Faf du Plessis, has been submitted well before the Jan. 6 deadline and will be pruned to the final 15 players later.
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