PREMIER LEAGUE
Vermaelen goes to Barca
Barcelona finally won the race to sign Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen on Saturday. The Spanish club had been battling with Manchester United for the Belgium international’s signature over the past few weeks and Luis Enrique’s team got their man for a reported fee of £15 million (US$25 million). “Thomas Vermaelen has agreed to join Barcelona in a permanent transfer for an undisclosed fee,” a statement on Arsenal’s Web site confirmed. “Vermaelen passed his medical in Barcelona on Saturday. His transfer is subject to the completion of the normal regulatory process. Everyone at Arsenal would like to thank Thomas for his contribution during his time at the club and wish him well for the future.”
PREMIER LEAGUE
Southampton sign Forster
England international goalkeeper Fraser Forster joined Southampton from Celtic on Saturday, penning a four-year deal believed to be worth £10 million. The 26-year-old, who was part of the England squad at the World Cup in Brazil, began his career with Newcastle United, and had loan spells at Stockport County, Bristol Rovers and Norwich City before joining Celtic in 2010.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Fulham loan Stekelenburg
Monaco have signed Dutch international goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg from Fulham on a seasonlong loan, the Principality club said on their Web site on Saturday. The 31-year-old, who was first choice for the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup, will provide competition for Croatia’s Danijel Subasic. The former Ajax and Roma shot-stopper, who has 54 international caps, is to wear the No. 16 shirt.
J-LEAGUE
Gamba Osaka lead pack
Gamba Osaka’s seemingly relentless move toward the top of the J-League continued on Saturday as goals from Yasuyuki Konno and Takashi Usami gave them a 2-0 win at Omiya Ardija. Kawasaki Frontale are third after a 2-1 home win over second-placed Urawa Reds, who lost their chance to leapfrog top-placed Sagan Tosu. Both have 37 points, but Tosu, who were not in action on Saturday due to a typhoon, lead on goal difference. Gamba Osaka, the team in form with five straight league wins, are fifth. Yoshito Okubo and Renato scored for Frontale, while Tsukasa Umesaki replied for the visitors. Kashima Antlers are in fourth spot after a 90th-minute goal from Yasushi Endo for a 3-2 win at Nagoya Grampus. Antlers went behind twice — to a goal from Keisuke Nagai and Josh Kennedy’s penalty — before Endo’s winner left Akira Nishino’s team in the relegation zone. FC Tokyo looked to continue their impressive run at a demoralized Cerezo Osaka, but the home team held on for a 0-0 draw despite Diego Forlan’s outburst at the bench after being substituted. Kashiwa Reysol salvaged a point at Yokohama F. Marinos, coming back from 2-0 down to get a 2-2 draw. Vissel Kobe left it late to seal the win after dominating Albirex Niigata for 90 minutes. Hiroyuki Komoto’s headed goal from a corner kept Vissel in touch with the leaders with the 1-0 win. Shimizu S-Pulse, who recently fired their Iranian-American manager Afshin Ghotbi, picked up three points by beating bottom club Tokushima Vortis 1-0. Kazuya Murata scored in the 69th minute for S-Pulse’s 200th home win in J1. Elsewhere, Ventforet Kofu and Vegalta Sendai fought out a 0-0 stalemate to leave both teams in danger of being sucked into a relegation dogfight.
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