RUSSIA
CSKA in dramatic title win
CSKA Moscow retained the Russian title in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season on Thursday after a 1-0 win against city rivals Lokomotiv Moscow. Serbian winger Zoran Tosic netted the only goal of the game as CSKA made it 10 consecutive wins to end the campaign and finish above Lokomotiv and Zenit St Petersburg. CSKA finished a point clear of Zenit and five ahead of third-placed Lokomotiv to win their fifth Russian title and qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League. Zenit join them in Europe’s leading club competition, but Lokomotiv must settle for a place in the UEFA Europa League. Former Manchester United player Tosic beat Lokomotiv goalkeeper Guilherme from long range just after halftime at the Arena Khimki. “It’s a great win and I’m really grateful to my players for their strong character,” CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky said. “We experienced serious pressure and certain personnel problems throughout the season, but today it’s all in the past. We are the champions.”
SWITZERLAND
Basel win fifth straight title
Basel continued their dominance by winning their fifth successive league title with a 3-1 win away to Aarau on Thursday. An 8,000 crowd packed into Aarau’s tiny ground and the game ended in chaos when Basel fans staged a pitch invasion after the final whistle. Television pictures showed Basel fans, many of them hooded, clashing with riot police and throwing objects at the home fans, although the situation was quickly brought under control. The win gave Basel an unassailable four-point lead over Grasshopper Club Zurich, who beat Luzern 4-1, with one match each to play. Congolese defender Igor Nganga gave Aarau a sixth-minute lead when he turned the ball in from close range, but Ivorian Serey Die equalized in the 28th minute with a long-range shot which went through a crowded penalty area and caught goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall unsighted. Argentine midfielder Matias Delgado gave the visitors the lead five minutes later, curling in a free-kick, and Valentin Stocker sealed the win with 11 minutes to play.
DENMARK
Aalborg complete double
Aalborg BK thumped Copenhagen 4-2 in the Danish Cup Final to complete the domestic double at the Parken Stadium on Thursday and round off a scintillating season by leaving their rivals from the capital empty-handed. The victory ended a run of seven cup final defeats for Aalborg since their last victory in 1969-1970. Aalborg fell behind to an Andreas Cornelius strike after 18 minutes, but two headed goals from Rasmus Thelander in the five minutes before halftime put them in the driving seat. Copenhagen then conceded second-half goals to Jakob Nielsen and Soeren Frederiksen to go 4-1 behind. Rurik Gislason pulled a goal back for Copenhagen in the last minute, but it was too little, too late.
UKRAINE
Dynamo Kiev win cup final
Dynamo Kiev won the Ukraine Cup on Thursday, beating bitter rivals Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in the final in the northeastern town of Poltava. Shakhtar, who won the title for the ninth time last week, were caught cold in the 40th minute when defender Alexander Kucher put the ball in his own net from a corner. Dynamo doubled their lead before the break through Croatian defender Domagoi Vida and although Shakhtar stepped up a gear after the interval, with Brazilian midfielder Douglas Costa reducing the arrears in the 57th minute with a low shot, Dynamo held their nerve to lift the cup for the 10th time.
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