SOUTH AFRICA
Zuma sticks up for team
President Jacob Zuma has rallied to the defense of the national soccer team after Minister of Sports Fikile Mbalula called them “useless” and a “bunch of losers.” Bafana Bafana were booted out in the first round of this year’s African Nations Championship after by Nigeria in the fourth tournament failure in 12 months for coach Gordon Igesund. That led to a furious outburst from Mbalula at a press conference on Monday, calling on the country to build a new team. “That mediocrity we saw yesterday is disgraceful. In Africa we have won nothing — we are the laughing stock. This generation of players we must forget. It is back to the drawing board.” Zuma, who clashed with Mbalula after the latter backed Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe in the African National Congress’ 2012 leadership race, disagreed with his minister. “We’re well aware that some people are criticizing the way the national team played against Nigeria. Some want the team disbanded. It has improved greatly and needs our support,” Zuma told radio station SAFM. “The current coach knows what he’s doing. He’s great at his job.”
ENGLAND
Spurs fan charged for ‘Yid’
Police said they charged three people on Tuesday for allegedly chanting the word “Yid” during Tottenham Hotspur matches. The men were charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words, Scotland Yard police headquarters said in a statement. Gary Whybrow, 31, and 24-year-old Sam Parsons allegedly chanted the word during a Europa League home game against Moldovan side FC Sheriff on Nov. 7 last year. Peter Ditchman, 52, is charged in relation to a Spurs home match against West Ham United on Oct. 6 and is also facing cocaine possession charges. All three will appear in court on Feb. 4. “Yid” is a term for a Jew that is often considered derogatory, but Spurs fans often chant the word in defiance of those who taunt the London side’s links with the local Jewish community.
SOUTH KOREA
Park comeback unlikely
A shock return to the South Korean national team looks unlikely for Park Ji-sung as the former Manchester United player has arranged a charity game in Southeast Asia shortly before this year’s FIFA World Cup finals, his father told local media yesterday. Speculation that Park could play in Brazil grew after head coach Hong Myung-bo this month said he wanted to talk to him about a possible return. However, the player’s father, Park Sung-jong, confirmed that his son would be going ahead with his annual charity match, the “Asian Dream Cup,” which is to be held on May 31 or June 1 in Malaysia or Indonesia. “This is something he had planned to do all along,” Park Sung-jong told the Yonhap news agency. “He is executing plans that he had made when he retired from international play three years ago.”
ENGLAND
Blackpool fire coach Ince
Former England midfielder Paul Ince was sacked as Blackpool manager on Tuesday after less than a year in charge of the Championship club. Ince, 46, was named in February last year and briefly took Blackpool to the top of the second tier this season after they won five of their first six games. However, they have now lost eight of their past nine and sunk to 14th in the tables, as well as being knocked out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle by Bolton Wanderers. Midfielder Barry Ferguson will take charge of training, the club said in a statement. Blackpool are now looking for their fourth full-time manager since being relegated in 2010-2011.
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