LA LIGA
Levante beat Las Palmas
Two goals by Jose Luis Morales helped Levante UD beat UD Las Palmas 3-2 on Monday. The 28-year-old Morales volleyed in the opener in the 25th minute after Jose Garcia’s free-kick had bounced back off the post into his path. Striker Deyverson doubled Levante’s tally in the 47th minute efore Brazil striker Willian pulled one back for Las Palmas two minutes later. Morales scored Levante’s third in the 64th minute before Willian got his second for Las Palmas in the 66th when he capitalized on an error by Levante goalkeeper Diego Marino. The win is not enough to lift Levante from last place in the league standings. Las Palmas are due to play Valencia tomorrow for a place in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
CONCACAF
Reform package in pipeline
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football is to consider a reform package when it holds an extraordinary congress in Zurich, Switzerland, on Feb. 25. The association on Monday said the proposals include: replacing its executive committee with a council of up to 15 members, including three who are required to be independent; creating an audit and compliance committee that includes only independent members; requiring governance and finance committees be chaired by independent members; twelve-year term limits for council members and members of independent committees; and requiring candidates for president, council and committee roles, and senior officials, be subject to eligibility checks by an independent ethics committee.
BRAZIL
CBF bans matches
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) banned some of the country’s top clubs from playing in an independent tournament on Monday, just two days before the first games are due to take place. However, the clubs — which include Flamengo and Fluminense from Rio de Janeiro, Gremio and Internacional from Porto Alegre, and Atletico and Cruzeiro from Belo Horizonte — said they would defy the ban and play their first matches today as scheduled. The CBF had originally given its blessing to this year’s edition of the Copa Sul-Minas-Rio and said it would consider making it an official tournament next year. However, on Monday, it issued a statement, saying the logistical and bureaucratic challenges were too much to overcome.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Team absent from qualifier
FIFA has opened a disciplinary case against the nation’s soccer federation, whose women’s team failed to travel to New Zealand for an Olympic qualifying playoff scheduled for yesterday. The incident is embarrassing for FIFA vice president David Chung, who leads the Papua New Guinea Football Association and the Oceania Football Confederation. The nation lost 7-1 in the first leg at home on Saturday, and face being fined and suspended from future FIFA competitions. They are due to host the Women’s Under-20 FIFA World Cup from Nov. 13 to Dec. 3. They qualify automatically to play in that tournament as the home team. New Zealand media reported that visa issues were blamed for the visiting team not traveling for the return match in Auckland. FIFA did not give a reason on Monday when confirming in a statement that the playoff second leg was canceled. New Zealand now advance to represent Oceania at the 12-team Rio Olympics tournament in August.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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