RUGBY UNION
Olympics pools drawn
New Zealand and Britain were put on a collision course on Tuesday after being drawn to face each other in the opening round of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics rugby sevens tournament. The powerful Kiwi side were drawn in a “Pool of Death” in Pool C, which includes Britain, rising sevens force Kenya and Asian champions Japan. In other pools, top seeds Fiji were handed what should be a relatively straightforward route into the quarter-finals in Pool A, where their opponents are the US, Argentina and hosts Brazil. Pool B sees southern hemisphere rivals South Africa and Australia vying for supremacy alongside France and surprise qualifiers Spain. In the women’s tournament, top seeds Australia are to play the US, Fiji and Colombia in Pool A, while New Zealand, France, Spain and Kenya contest Pool B. Canada, Britain, Brazil and Japan complete the field in Pool C. The top two teams from each pool qualify for the knockout rounds, along with the two best third-placed sides. Rugby is returning to the Olympics after a 96-year absence from the Games.
SOCCER
Gascoigne to stand trial
Former England player Paul Gascoigne is to stand trial after pleading not guilty to a racially aggravated public order offense. The former Tottenham Hotspur and SS Lazio midfielder is alleged to have directed the abuse at a black security guard in November last year at his stage show, “An Evening with Gazza,” in Wolverhampton, England. The 49-year-old Gascoigne yesterday appeared at nearby Dudley Magistrates’ Court, signing autographs for fans outside the court. A single charge alleges Gascoigne “used threatening or abusive words or behavior or disorderly behavior within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress” and that the offense was racially aggravated. Gascoigne was granted unconditional police bail ahead of a trial scheduled for September. Once one of England’s most talented players, Gascoigne has faced years of alcohol and mental health problems.
SOCCER
Portugal duo return
Portugal have been boosted by the return of Andre Gomes and Raphael Guerreiro to training ahead of their Euro 2016 quarter-final against Poland. The two players joined the main group in a morning session yesterday after sitting out two days of practice. Defender Guerreiro and midfielder Gomes started Portugal’s 1-0 extra-time triumph over Croatia in the round-of-16, but sustained minor muscular problems. Portugal coach Fernando Santos is expected to have all his players available to face Poland today.
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SOCCER
Dembele move ‘massive’
Moussa Dembele has said he is privileged to be the first signing of coach Brendan Rodgers’ tenure at Celtic, after the striker joined the Scottish champions on a four-year contract on Tuesday. The 19-year-old Dembele, who came through the ranks at French champions Paris Saint Germain, joined Celtic from English second-tier side Fulham, where he scored 17 goals to secure the club’s survival in the Championship. Rodgers joined Celtic on a 12-month rolling contract in May after he was sacked by Liverpool in October last year. “It is a massive thing to come to this club and to be Brendan Rodgers’ first signing is something unreal for me,” Dembele told the club’s Web site.
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