SOCCER
QPR swoop for Isla
Premier League new-boys Queens Park Rangers signed Chile defender Mauricio Isla on a season-long loan from Juventus on Wednesday. Isla has received a work permit endorsement from the Football Association and is currently in Italy obtaining his working visa before officially linking up with his new teammates. “He’s a top player and we’re delighted to have him here,” QPR manager Harry Redknapp told his club’s Web site. Isla started all four of Chile’s matches at this year’s World Cup and has 51 caps for his country.
SOCCER
Benzema signs new contract
France striker Karim Benzema has ended any speculation about his future by signing a new contract with Real Madrid, the European champions announced on Wednesday. A statement on the club’s Web site read: “Real Madrid CF announce the extension of the contract linking Karim Benzema to the club until June 30, 2019, the next five seasons.” Benzema’s contract was due to expire in the summer of next year.
SOCCER
Osvaldo joins Inter in loan
Southampton flop Dani Osvaldo completed his season-long loan move to Inter on Wednesday after a miserable spell at St Mary’s. Osvaldo joined Southampton for a club record fee of £15 million (US$25 million), but the Italian striker endured difficult times both on and off the pitch. Argentina-born Osvaldo has played 12 times for Italy, but he failed to show that pedigree at Southampton and scored just three goals in 13 appearances. He never settled and was fined £40,000 and banned for three matches by the Football Association after a touchline row at Newcastle United in December last year. The 28-year-old was then sent on loan to Italian champions Juventus in January after a training-ground fight with teammate Jose Fonte. He infuriated Southampton managers by failing to report back for pre-season training and was given leave of absence before finally securing a move back to Italy, where he had previously played for Roma, Fiorentina and Bologna.
SOCCER
Philippines team revolts
The Philippines’ soccer team has been rocked by a player revolt with two Azkals senior players refusing to suit up for head coach Thomas Dooley of the US. Midfielder Stephan Schrock and fellow mainstay Dennis Cagara declared on social media this week they had played their last match under Dooley, amid speculation they were unhappy over a policy perceived to favor younger players. “As long as coach Dooley will lead the team I won’t wear the jersey of Azkals again,” Schrock, 27, told fans on social media.
CYCLING
Genechten wins stage 4
Belgium’s Jonas Van Genechten prevailed in a sprint finish to the Tour of Poland fourth stage, a 236km ride from Tarnow to Katowice, on Wednesday. The Lotto Belisol rider was followed home by Italy’s Jacopo Guarnieri and Luka Mergec of Slovenia. The Czech Republic’s Petr Vakoc retained the leader’s yellow jersey.
CYCLING
Hofland wins Utah stage 2
Moreno Hofland of the Netherlands won his second stage in three days at the Tour of Utah, out-sprinting a host rivals after a flat, windy stage at Miller Motorsports Park on Wednesday. The field caught a group of riders who made an early breakaway in the closing miles, and Hofland’s Belkin team took charge heading to the finish line. Andrea Palini of Lampre-Merida was second and Eric Young of Optum finished third.
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