Elche forward Ferran “Coro” Corominas missed a second-half penalty in a 0-0 draw with visiting CA Osasuna in the Spanish league on Friday.
The result left both sides five points from the relegation zone before the rest of the games in round 24 are played this weekend.
Osasuna created more scoring chances early, with striker Oriol Riera and Manuel “Lolo” Ortiz both drawing saves from goalkeeper Antonio “Tono” Rodriguez in the first half.
Coro had Elche’s best opportunity in the 66th after Emiliano Armenteros fouled Manuel del Moral in the area. However, Coro’s spot-kick sailed well over the crossbar.
Tono left the match because of a leg injury in the 76th, and replacement Manuel Herrera did well to tap a deflected shot over his bar three minutes later to protect his team’s point.
Osasuna forward Juan “Nino” Modesto went on as a late substitute in his first action since having surgery on a torn ligament in his right knee that had sidelined him since September last year.
“After six long months and lots of suffering and hard work, it’s a good recompense,” said Nino, who added that the game should not have ended scoreless. “They had a penalty, but we also had some clear chances to score, but the goalkeepers played well.”
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are in a three-way tie for the league lead.
Barcelona were to host Rayo Vallecano de Madrid yesterday, when Atletico host Real Valladolid. Madrid visit crosstown rival Getafe today. Also this round is Levante UD vs UD Almeria, Villarreal vs RC Celta de Vigo, Granada vs Real Betis Balompie, Athletic Bilbao vs RCD Espanyol, Sevilla vs Valencia, and Malaga vs Real Sociedad.
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