■ITALY
Sampdoria knock out Inter
Serie A leaders Inter were knocked out of the Italian Cup on Thursday when a 1-0 semi-final second-leg win over Sampdoria fell short of overturning a 3-0 deficit from the teams’ first meeting. In the May 13 final in Rome, Sampdoria will face Lazio. It will be Sampdoria’s first cup final appearance since 1994 where they defeated Ancona. With three goals to make up, Inter coach Jose Mourinho played three strikers, with Mario Balotelli, Julio Cruz and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all starting. It was Ibrahimovic who was to score the only goal of the second leg with a superb 27th-minute volley.
■SWEDEN
AIK go top of Allsvenskan
Ivan Obolo capitalized on a mishap by Orgryte goalkeeper Nathan Coe to give AIK a 1-0 victory and top spot in the Swedish league on Thursday. Obolo scored with a weak shot in the 30th minute for the Stockholm suburb side at Goteborg after Coe fell on the slippery grass. “I slipped ... but it was my fault,” Coe said. AIK top the 16-team Allsvenskan standings with 12 points after winning their fourth straight game by a single goal. Still, AIK coach Mikael Stahre was not pleased. “We didn’t play well,” Stahre said. “And they watered the pitch too much before the match.”Star striker Henrik Larsson’s Helsingborg lost to Halmstad 3-1, while two-time UEFA Cup champions IFK Goteborg edged Hammarby 1-0. Gefle drew with Gais 0-0 and Orebro nipped defending champions Kalmar 2-1.
■ENGLAND
Saints to appeal penalty
Southampton are set to appeal against the 10-point penalty imposed on them on Thursday that threatens to condemn them to life next season in the third tier of English soccer. The penalty was imposed by the English Football League in reaction to the club’s parent company going into administration. Southampton are currently second from bottom in the Championship with two matches left to play this season. If they can manage to scramble out of the drop zone, they will inevitably be relegated once the points penalty is applied, but that option would be preferable to starting next season with a 10-point deficit.
■ITALY
Carrozzieri fail doping test
Palermo defender Moris Carrozzieri has tested positive for cocaine following a Serie A match against Torino on April 5, the Italian Olympic Committee announced on Thursday. The 28-year-old is a first team regular at Palermo, who currently lie seventh in Serie A. “This news has surprised us,” the club said in a statement. “We repeat our total commitment in the battle against the use of illegal substances which damage the health of people and in particular the young,” club president Maurizio Zamparini told Ansa news agency. “If it is true, he has taken cocaine, he must admit it.”
■CANADA
Two fans charged over flares
Two men face assault and other charges after two flares were thrown from the stands at a Major League Soccer game between Toronto FC and Chivas USA on Wednesday. Toronto police said one of the flares landed on a woman’s leg, causing burn injuries, and the other landed on the artificial turf at BMO Field and caused about US$2,000 damage. Andjelo Franjic, 18, and a 17-year-old whose name was not released, were charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm and mischief under US$5,000, police said in a statement on Thursday.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS