SOCCER
Women’s strategy revealed
FIFA on Tuesday announced a new global strategy for women’s soccer in a bid to create revenue streams and increase grassroots participation. FIFA said in a statement that it would work closely with member associations through workshops and special initiatives to “encourage female empowerment” through soccer. “The women’s game is a top priority,” FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura said. FIFA said it would look to double the number of female players to 60 million by 2026 and ensure all member associations have developed “comprehensive women’s football strategies” by 2022. It also hopes to broaden female representation in their regulatory framework, with at least one-third of FIFA committee members to be women by 2022.
SOCCER
FA probed ‘bully’ staffer
The English Football Association (FA) said it has investigated concerns about the conduct of a staffer who was a key part of the national team’s run to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia. The Daily Telegraph late on Tuesday reported that FA head of strategy and performance Dave Reddin was linked to a culture of bullying and fear. In a statement, the FA said it “took all of the allegations raised very seriously and undertook and investigation. We are entirely satisfied that the matters were appropriately investigated and concluded.” It did not say how the investigation concluded.
FOOTBALL
Steelers’ Brown sued twice
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown is facing two lawsuits stemming from an alleged incident in April, media reported on Tuesday. The lawsuits are for “damages in excess of US$15,000,” ESPN said. Brown is accused of yelling at security and throwing items from the balcony of a South Florida apartment. He was allegedly upset over US$80,000 and a gun he reported missing. Brown was not charged following the incident, police said. One of the lawsuits was filed by Ophir Sternberg, who alleges that his 22-month-old boy was emotionally traumatized after several of the thrown items landed near the boy and his grandfather. “The falling objects included two very large vases ... as well as a large, heavy ottoman and other pieces of furniture,” the lawsuit says. Brown is also being sued by the unit’s landlord for damages and breaching the apartment agreement, the reports said.
OLYMPICS
Norman gets statue, holiday
Australia is to erect a statue of sprinter Peter Norman, who backed two Americans in their famed Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics, with authorities describing the honor as “seriously overdue.” Norman, 200m silver medalist in Mexico City, stood on the podium alongside US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who put a black-gloved fist in the air in a civil rights protest. Norman quietly showed his solidarity by wearing an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. As a result, he was frozen out of Games selection and airbrushed from Australian Olympic history. Athletics Australia said a bronze statue of Norman, jointly funded with the Victoria State Government, would be erected outside the Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne. Australia would also recognize Oct. 9, the date of Norman’s funeral, as Peter Norman Day, it added.
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