RUGBY UNION
Lomu family funeral held
Friends and family of rugby great Jonah Lomu bade him farewell at a private funeral service yesterday, the last formal act of mourning for the former All Blacks winger who died Nov. 18 aged 40. Lomu’s wife Nadene, sons Brayley and Dhyreille, his mother and brother and former All Blacks teammates were among mourners who filled the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the South Auckland suburb of Mangere. After eulogies, prayers and hymns, Lomu’s coffin was taken from the church to the Manukau Memorial Gardens Cemetery for a private burial. Yesterday’s service followed a public memorial at Eden Park stadium on Monday, attended by thousands of friends and fans. Lomu’s sudden death last month followed an almost 20-year battle with the kidney ailment nephrotic syndrome.
SOCCER
Nuno departure confirmed
Valencia confirmed on Monday that Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo has left the La Liga club. Nuno had already said on Sunday night following a 1-0 defeat to Sevilla that he was resigning. “Nuno Espirito Santo, who until now was the coach, is no longer tied to Valencia, after coming to an amicable agreement with the institution,” a statement on Valencia’s Web site said. Former player Salvador Gonzalez will take charge of the team, assisted by Nuno’s assistant, the former Manchester United player Phil Neville, until a permanent appointment is made. Having qualified the team for this season’s Champions League, the Portuguese coach leaves with Valencia down in ninth in the table, having lost eight of 20 matches this season in all competitions. They also need to beat Lyon in their final Champions League group game to have any chance of reaching the knock-out stages. They host leaders and champions Barcelona this coming weekend in La Liga.
SOCCER
Bolton cannot pay players
Cash-strapped Bolton on Monday said they have been unable to pay their players’ wages this month, and just hours later, the Championship’s bottom club were held to a 1-1 draw by Brentford. Neil Lennon’s squad have not received their wages for last month as the club are £172.9 million (US$260 million) in debt and desperately seeking fresh investment with owner Eddie Davies no longer willing to bankroll them. “Bolton Wanderers Football Club can today, Monday 30 November, confirm that the first-team playing squad are yet to receive their wages for the month of November,” a statement read. “This is due to the ongoing situation surrounding the club’s ownership off the field.” A consortium led by former Bolton striker Dean Holdsworth is understood to be interested in buying the club, but, adding to Bolton’s current woes, they were unable to improve their chances of avoiding relegation as the draw against Brentford at the Macron Stadium extended their winless run to a dozen games.
OLYMPICS
Bach laments Hamburg vote
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach says the demise of Hamburg’s bid for the 2024 Olympics marks a “missed opportunity” for the city and Germany. Hamburg withdrew its bid on Sunday after it was rejected in a referendum by voters in the northern port city. Bach said in a statement on Monday that the vote came as Germany copes with an influx of migrants and refugees. He said the situation “requires a great effort by German government and society and is causing widespread feelings of uncertainty.” He also said the vote may have been influenced by current doping and corruption scandals in sports.
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