■ BADMINTON
Lin Dan knocked out
China's world badminton champion Lin Dan lost to Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in the semi-finals of the Japan Open Super Series yesterday. He went down 21-19, 21-15 to the Malyasian, who also beat Lin the last time they met in the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow in June. Lin recovered from that setback to retain his world title in Kuala Lumpur last month when Lee failed to fulfil the huge expectations of his home support and lost in the third round. His opponent in the final will be Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat who defeated Indonesian compatriot Simon Santoso 21-14, 21-16.
■ SOCCER
Petrovic gets China job
China has appointed former Yugoslav international Vladimir Petrovic as its new coach on a one-year contract, state media reported. The 52-year-old, who coached Chinese Super League club Dalian Shide to the league title in 2005, will be in charge until Sept. 30 next year when China completes its third round of Asian qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Petrovic replaces Zhu Guanghu, who was sacked last month following the national team's humiliating first-round exit from the Asian Cup in July. Petrovic will be under the "guidance" of Ratomir Dujkovic, who is coach of the Olympic team and who recommended his former Belgrade Red Star teammate to the China Football Association, Xinhua news agency said.
■ SOCCER
Petric brace lifts Dortmund
Mladen Petric's two goals lifted Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen on Friday and moved them within a point of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Injury-plagued Bremen, who face Real Madrid next week in their European Champions League opener, fell apart after Petric scored unmarked in 22nd minute. Diego Klimowicz added another in the 29th minute and Petric followed with another three minutes later for Dortmund, who climbed to second in the standings.
■ FORMULA ONE
Raikkonen takes pole
Kimi Raikkonen took pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix yesterday, edging Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa and the two McLaren drivers. Behind the red Ferrari cars, world champion Fernando Alonso just got third place ahead of overall leader Lewis Hamilton, setting up a close race today. After the Formula One spying scandal involving McLaren took center stage for two days, racing took over again yesterday.
■ MOTOR RACING
Racer files for protection
The Australian-born drag racer whose car plowed into a parade crowd in Tennessee, killing six and injuring dozens more, has filed for bankruptcy protection, records show. Troy Critchley filed for "Chapter 7" bankruptcy protection last Friday and claimed as creditors a dozen pending lawsuits totaling around US$100 million. More than 30 lawsuits are related to the June 16 accident, when Critchley's race car crashed into a crowd at a "Cars for Kids" charity event. Attorneys for the families say the bankruptcy filing could make it harder to pursue their civil claims against Critchley, some of which are seeking as much as US$20 million. "The accident has devastated him emotionally and ruined him financially," said attorney William Reid, who represents Critchley but is not his bankruptcy attorney.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS