SOCCER
Clubs see record revenue
English Premier League clubs generated record combined revenues of £3.26 billion (US$5 billion) in 2013-2014, according to a report published by business advisory firm Deloitte yesterday. The figure, fueled by the start of a new television-rights cycle, represented a rise of 29 percent on the 2012-2013 season and saw the English top flight surpass Germany’s Bundesliga as Europe’s most-profitable league. “The impact of the Premier League’s broadcast deal is clear to see,” Dan Jones from Deloitte’s Sport Business Group said in a statement accompanying the company’s 24th Annual Review of Football Finance. “Broadcast income increased by £569 million in 2013-2014, accounting for 78 percent of the overall growth in revenue in the Premier League. “Continued growth in both commercial and match-day revenue helped Premier League clubs’ combined revenues reach £3.26 billion — a staggering increase of £735 million compared with the season before.”
FOOTBALL
Yahoo to Web stream game
The NFL is teaming up with Yahoo Inc to show a game live on the Internet this autumn. The alliance announced on Wednesday follows up on the NFL’s previously announced plan to stream the Oct. 25 matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. The game, which is to be played in London, is scheduled to start at 1:30pm GMT. It will be the first time that the NFL has allowed one of its games to be streamed live in its entirety by an Internet outlet. The Bills-Jaguars game is still to be televised, like all other NFL games, in the local markets of the two teams playing each other. Landing the rights to show the game represents a coup for Yahoo, which is trying to widen its audience and sell more advertising after more than six years of little or no revenue growth. Yahoo declined to say how much it is paying the NFL to stream the game.
CRICKET
Bangladesh skipper injured
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza’s preparations for the one-day international series against India have been disrupted by hand injuries sustained while riding to training in a cycle rickshaw. The injury-prone paceman was traveling to the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday morning when a bus shunted the rickshaw from behind, the Daily Star newspaper reported. “The good news is that his injuries are not serious, but he will have to rest for now and cannot attend practice sessions,” Bangladesh team physiotherapist Baizidul Islam told the paper.
SOCCER
Le Toux leads Union
French forward Sebastien Le Toux scored one goal and set up another to lead the Philadelphia Union to a 3-0 victory over the Columbus Crew in Major League Soccer on Wednesday. Cristian Maidana passed to Le Toux at close range. Rather than take the shot, Le Toux crossed to C.J. Sapong, who scored his third goal of the season on an easy tap-in past goalkeeper Steve Clark in the 41st minute. In the second half, Clark slipped while trying to roll the ball outside the box. Instead, he kicked it right to Union’s Vincent Nogueira, who chipped into a wide-open net in the 52nd minute. Le Toux scored his second goal of the season in the 58th minute on an assist by Sheanon Williams. In Washington, Jairo Arrieta scored two goals as United downed the Chicago Fire 3-1. Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti scored in the 83rd minute to give the Impact a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
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