SOCCER
Eto’o gets book banned
Cameroon star Samuel Eto’o on Thursday succeeded in having a tell-all book written by his former girlfriend banned by the High Court of Paris, but the editor confirmed the decision had been appealed. Nathalie Koah’s Revenge Porn — Football, sex, money: the testimony of Samuel Eto’o’s ex, tells the story of a woman who considers herself “humiliated and betrayed.” In the book, which was due to go on sale on Thursday, the 29-year-old Koah tells of the affair she had with the married player between 2007 and 2014 when he played for Barcelona, Inter and Chelsea, but lawyers for the former Cameroon international argued successfully that the book contravened France’s strict privacy laws. Lawyer Olivier Pardo immediately lodged an appeal which is to be heard on Monday. The 34-year-old Eto’o and Koah have been at loggerheads since their stormy breakup in mid-2014. The Cameroonian woman claimed Eto’o published intimate photographs of her on the Internet, while the former Real Madrid player accused her of “fraud and breach of trust.”
SOCCER
Martins joins China exodus
Nigeria international striker Obafemi Martins has joined the growing band of foreign players heading to China, swapping Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders for Shanghai Greenland Shenhua. The 31-year-old former Inter and Newcastle United forward announced his move on Twitter, saying he was looking forward to a “new challenge” in the Chinese Super League after spending three years with the Sounders. Martins is the latest in a series of foreign player to be lured to China, which is making a concerted effort to attract overseas players to its top-flight with jaw-dropping sums of money. Earlier this week, Paris Saint-Germain’s Ezequiel Lavezzi signed with Hebei China Fortune, who are reportedly paying the South American US$33.6 million over two years. Chinese teams have been splashing their cash in Europe, as wealthy owners embrace Chinese President Xi Jinping’s vision of the sleeping Asian giant becoming a new soccer heavyweight.
SOCCER
SC Bastia fans protest
SC Bastia on Thursday called for their supporters to protest in front of the courthouse in the Corsican town following incidents that marred last weekend’s match at Stade de Reims. The club said in a statement they would be represented in the crowd and called on “all supporters to participate, in calm and dignity” to show their support for the fan who was seriously hurt last weekend in Reims. Fans threw fireworks at police before and after the match in the Champagne region, with the violence spilling into the town when a 22-year-old Corsican suffered a serious eye injury while being pursued by police. A lawyer acting for SC Bastia fan Maxime Beux, 22, said her client lost his left eye after being shot by a flash-ball gun. Seven SC Bastia supporters on Monday received summons for a trial on March 22. The league has postponed today’s scheduled clash against Nantes until March 9.
CYCLING
Bouhanni claims red jersey
France’s Nacer Bouhanni of Cofidis pulled on the leader’s red jersey after winning a sprint finish in the second stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia Ruta Ciclista Del Sol in Cordoba, Spain, on Thursday. Bouhanni crossed the finish line following the 186.3km stage ahead of Italy’s Fabio Felline (Trek-Segafredo) and Britain’s Ben Swift (Team Sky) for his first win of the year.
BASKETBALL
Krzyzewski return expected
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo expects Mike Krzyzewski to lead the US this summer, and the coach said he has “every intention” of being in Brazil. Krzyzewski plans to have left knee replacement surgery following the completion of Duke’s season, and Colangelo told NBA TV during All-Star weekend in Toronto that he was “thinking about what ifs” if his health prevented him from returning. However, Colangelo on Thursday said in a statement that “at no time” have he and Krzyzewski discussed him not coaching this summer. “I was aware that Coach planned to have knee replacement surgery immediately after Duke’s season was completed, but at no time have Coach and I ever discussed him not coaching the USA National Team this summer,” Colangelo said. “I remain 100 percent convinced that there is no better coach to lead the US as it looks to successfully defend its Olympic gold medal in Rio and represent the United States in a manner all US will be proud of.” Krzyzewski, 69, has been the US coach since 2005, leading the US to consecutive Olympic gold medals and two straight world championships.
FOOTBALL
Giants sign Dable: report
Wide receiver Anthony Dable could be set to become the only Frenchman playing in the National Football League after signing a contract with the New York Giants, it was confirmed on Thursday. The New York Daily News said Dable had been signed by the Giants after impressing staff in a tryout in New Jersey on Wednesday. The 27-year-old arrives in New York after spending two seasons playing in Germany for the New Yorker Lions, the newspaper reported. Dable, who cuts an imposing figure at 1.95m and 99kg, racked up 145 catches with 32 touchdowns in two seasons. The New York Giants did not immediately respond to requests to comment on the signing. However Dable confirmed the deal in a post on Twitter.
FOOTBALL
Jared Allen ‘rides off’
Jared Allen, ninth on the NFL’s all-time quarterback sacks list, announced his retirement on Thursday by literally riding off on horseback in a video posted on Twitter. The 33-year-old defensive end, who played in a losing cause for the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl earlier this month, wore a cowboy hat and western-style coat in his farewell message. “Well, everyone, I just want to say thank you for an amazing 12-year career,” Allen said. “This is the part where I was going to ride off into the sunset, but seeing as how there is no sunset, I’m just going to ride off.” Allen also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears. He has 136 sacks and 643 tackles over 187 career games. “It has been a great ride for me and I couldn’t be more grateful for the memories,” Allen said.
RUGBY UNION
Read to captain All Blacks
Head coach Steve Hansen has confirmed backrower Kieran Read will take over as All Blacks captain after the retirement of Richie McCaw. The 30-year-old Read has already led New Zealand in nine of his 84 Tests. He was the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2013, although he has recently sustained multiple concussions. Hansen yesterday said All Blacks coaches had been prepared for McCaw’s retirement after last year’s World Cup victory. Read has captaincy experience “and while it will be a new experience to be there fulltime, at least he’s had a taste of it. We have known for quite some time that five of the guys are going to be leaving, with 1,000 Test matches between them.”
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