SPAIN
Teams fined for whistling
Authorities on Monday moved to fine Barcelona 66,000 euros (US$67,000) and Athletic Bilbao 18,000 euros over last season’s Copa del Rey final, where fans of the Catalan and Basque sides whistled King Felipe VI. The Higher Sports Council proposed the sanctions for “behavior whose aim was to transform the sporting event into a stage for political demands through intolerant acts,” including “whistling the national anthem and His Majesty the King,” patron of the cup, the council said in a statement. It also proposed a 123,000 euro fine for the Royal Spanish Football Federation as organizer of the final at Barcelona’s Camp Nou on May 30, which Barca won 3-1.
MEXICO
Coach denies violent act
National coach Miguel Herrera on Monday denied punching a journalist at the Philadelphia International Airport, one day after Mexico clinched the Gold Cup with a 3-1 win over Jamaica. Christian Martinoli of TV Azteca told AS Mexico that he ran into the Mexico team after clearing security at the airport. Martinoli, who had been critical of Herrera during Mexico’s run to a seventh title in the biennial North American soccer championship, said the coach punched him in the neck after threatening him in the security line. However, Herrera denied striking Martinoli, admitting only to pushing him.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Stoke sign Afellay
Stoke City have signed former Barcelona winger Ibrahim Afellay on a free transfer, the English Premier League club confirmed on Monday. Afellay agreed a two-year contract with Stoke and is to link up with coach Mark Hughes and his new teammates on their pre-season tour of France. The 29-year-old Netherlands international — capped 50 times — was available to move after his contract with Barcelona expired in the close-season. Former PSV Eindhoven star Afellay joins compatriots Erik Pieters and Marco van Ginkel in the Stoke squad, along with former Barcelona teammates Bojan Krkic, Marc Muniesa and Moha El Ouriachi. Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes told the club’s Web site: “It is no secret that Ibrahim was wanted by a number of clubs and we are understandably delighted that he has chosen to join us.” Afellay becomes Stoke’s eighth close-season signing, following the arrivals of Philipp Wollscheid, Jakob Haugaard, Joselu, Van Ginkel, Glen Johnson, Shay Given and Moha.
MLS
Red Bulls buy Wright-Phillips
Queens Park Rangers winger Shaun Wright-Phillips is to be reunited with his brother, Bradley, after signing for Major League Soccer outfit the New York Red Bulls, the club announced on Monday. Former England international Shaun Wright-Phillips, 33, heads to New York after barely featuring for QPR during their doomed battle against relegation last season. No terms of his contract with the Red Bulls were disclosed. “Shaun is a proven player, who has played on soccer’s largest stage,” New York Red Bulls Sporting Director Ali Curtis said. “He can play a number of positions for us and is an excellent fit in our locker room. We are pleased that he will be wearing a Red Bull jersey and we cannot wait for him to take the field.” The club said Shaun Wright-Phillips would be available to make his debut when the Red Bulls face Philadelphia Union on Saturday. The Wright-Phillips brothers are to play on the same side for the first time since 2004, when they both appeared for Manchester City.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with