LIGUE 1
Bastia face relegation threat
French club SC Bastia could be relegated from the country’s top flight over a 1.3 million euro (US$1.44 million) budget deficit after it failed to provide the necessary financial guarantees. The National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG), which monitors the accounts of professional clubs in France, ruled that Bastia would be denied their spot in Ligue 1 for the upcoming season over the issue. However, the Corsican club said it expected to resolve the matter following the sale of Ryan Boudebouz to Montpellier Herault for 1.7 million euros. Bastia said in a statement it would provide the DNCG appeals commission “in the coming hours with the bank details that prove Boudebouz was transferred.” Bastia finished 12th in Ligue 1 last season.
LIGUE 1
Marseille to sign Rekik
Olympique de Marseille have reached a deal with Manchester City that will see Netherlands defender Karim Rekik move to the Stade Velodrome, the Ligue 1 side said on Tuesday. Marseille said the clubs had “found an agreement in principle for the permanent transfer of the Dutch international this Tuesday evening, pending a medical.” Rekik, 20, joined City in 2011, but has hardly played for the English club and spent last season on loan to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven. His arrival will provide a boost to Marseille, who have seen Andre-Pierre Gignac, Andre Ayew, Jeremy Morel and Dimitri Payet all leave the club so far this summer. He will be the third new signing at the Velodrome, following the recruits of winger Georges-Kevin Nkoudou from Nantes and goalkeeper Yohann Pele from Sochaux-Montbeliard.
LIGUE 1
Bahlouli to move to Monaco
AS Monaco have signed France under-20 international Fares Bahlouli from Ligue 1 rivals Olympique Lyonnais on a five-year deal, the principality club announced on Tuesday. The attacking midfielder, considered one of the brightest talents to come out of Lyon’s productive academy, moved for a fee of 3.5 million euros, according to sources close to the deal. Bahlouli has made just nine top-flight appearances for Lyon, but was part of the France under-20 side who won the Toulon Tournament.
UNITED STATES
Injured Davis misses squad
Brad Davis, a midfielder who helped the US capture the 2005 Gold Cup, will miss this year’s tournament with a knee injury, the nation’s soccer federation said on Tuesday. The 33-year-old Houston Dynamo player is a six-time Major League Soccer All-Star and was part of the US squad at last year’s World Cup. He also helped Houston take the MLS crown in 2006 and 2007. Greg Garza, a 23-year-old defender for Mexican side Atlas, has been drafted in to replace Davis for tomorrow’s friendly against Guatemala in Nashville, the final warm-up for both sides before the CONCACAF Gold Cup starts next week. US Soccer is in the process of submitting paperwork to CONCACAF to allow for a squad replacement for the Gold Cup. With the approval of the regional governing body, the US can add an injury replacement from a 35-man preliminary squad up until 24 hours before the team’s opening match. Juergen Klinsmann’s side, who are the holders, are to begin their bid to retain the trophy against Honduras in suburban Dallas on Tuesday next week. If the US successfully defend the trophy, they will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
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