■ EAGLAND
Mittal family buys QPR stake
English club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) received a significant cash injection after the family of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal bought a 20 percent shareholding in the team. Last month Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone and Renault team manager Flavio Briatore took over the London club, who are bottom of England's second tier championship. Mittal, described as the wealthiest man in Britain by the Sunday Times rich list with a fortune estimated at £19.25 billion (US$38.3 billion), will be represented on the board at Loftus Road by his son-in-law, Amit Bhatia.
■ Germany
Hertha want Zurich's Rafael
Brazilian striker Rafael, top scorer for Swiss champions FC Zurich, is being targeted in a multimillion euro transfer by Bundesiga side Hertha Berlin, it was revealed on Thursday. The 22-year-old, who has scored 12 goals in 15 games for Zurich already this season, has been discussed by the two clubs ahead of next month's transfer window, but Zurich president Ancillo Canepa says a deal hangs in the balance. "It was a good discussion, but we haven't quite agreed yet," Canepa told German agency SID. "The chances of an agreement is about 50:50. "Both sides are striving to find a solution, but we do not have to sell our best goal-scorer, we have to find an agreeable price."
■ Italy
Players must shake hands
Italian league players will be forced to shake hands with opponents after matches from January next year, Italian league organizers said on Thursday. League president Antonio Matarreses told the Ansa news agency that the new initiative, for both first and second division clubs, had been unanimously adopted. "From Jan. 13, players will line up on the half way line at the end of matches and shake hands," Materrese said. "My dream is that one day opposing fans will also shake hands." It was not made clear what punishment, if any, would be imposed for those players who did not comply.
■ england
Fulham fire Sanchez
Fulham yesterday parted ways with manager Lawrie Sanchez in the hope of finding a replacement to ensure the struggling club stays in the Premier League. "Following a run of disappointing results the club is languishing in the relegation zone of the Premier League table, and losing its Premiership status is a proposition that simply can not be contemplated at this stage in the club's on-going development," Fulham said in a statement. "The club is confident that it will find the right replacement to increase its chances of remaining in the Premiership, which is of vital importance," the statement said. Ray Lewington and Billy McKinlay will be in charge of the team whilst a search for a permanent replacement takes place. Fulham are currently third from bottom of the Premier League with just 13 points from 17 games.
■ China
Female `Rooney' crocked
Ma Xiaoxu, dubbed China's female "Wayne Rooney" because of her prodigious talent, may miss playing in next year's Olympics after seriously injuring her knee, a press report said yesterday. Ma is likely to be sidelined for at least six months with what team doctors fear may be a ruptured ligament in her right knee, after she fell awkwardly while playing in Wednesday's 4-0 defeat of New Zealand, the China Daily reported. Ma was stretchered off and taken to Beijing on Thursday for tests, the newspaper said.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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