SOCCER
Villa defenders say sorry
Aston Villa defenders Richard Dunne and James Collins have apologized after clashing with the club’s coaching staff. The News of the World reported on Sunday that Ireland defender Dunne and Collins were critical of some of Villa manager Gerard Houllier’s coaches during a team break at a health spa. Reports earlier this weeks claimed several players had to be pulled apart in the restaurant at the Champneys Springs resort following a row believed to be linked to the coaching criticism. Houllier was at the resort on Wednesday before travelling to White Hart Lane with assistant Gary McAllister to watch the Champions League game between Tottenham and AC Milan. “I apologize unreservedly for my behavior on Wednesday night. It was not acceptable and I am genuinely sorry,” Dunne told the newspaper. Collins added: “We were wrong. This should not have happened and I apologize for the part I played.” Houllier’s coaching staff includes McAllister, Gordon Cowans, Kevin MacDonald and fitness coach Robert Duverne. Dunne clashed with McAllister earlier in the season on the training ground and as a result was temporarily dropped and also stripped of the captaincy.
SOCCER
Hazard does damage
An injury-time goal by Eden Hazard earned Lille a 2-1 home win over Valenciennes and a three-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 on Sunday. Belgian prodigy Hazard, 20, beat goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau with a fierce angled shot two minutes into stoppage time to take Lille clear of second-placed Stade Rennes who lost 2-0 to Olympique Marseille on Friday. Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 2-2 home draw by Montpellier. PSG were 2-0 up after 14 minutes thanks to Guillaume Hoarau’s header and an own goal by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa. The visitors hit back when Olivier Giroud headed in a free kick in the 47th minute. Cyril Jeunechamp then picked up a second yellow card a minute later and PSG appeared set for the win. However, Giroud, equalized against the run of play with a clinical strike just before the hour. The result left PSG in fifth place with 45 points, seven behind Lille. At the Stadium Nord in Villeneuve d’Ascq, Lille took the lead after 39 minutes when Moussa Sow, netted his 18th of the season with a 20m shot that went into the top corner after taking a deflection. Valenciennes looked transformed after the break and Gregory Pujol levelled with an angled shot just before the hour. Lille were short of pace in midfield 0but Hazard made the difference. Also on Sunday, Monaco moved away from the relegation zone after a first-half Adriano goal gave them a 1-0 win at Bordeaux.
BADMINTON
Lee retains All England title
A safety-first approach paid off handsomely for world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei as the Malaysian downed old foe Lin Dan of China 21-17, 21-17 to retain his All England title on Sunday. Third seed Lin was seeking a fifth success at the tournament but Lee had too much in the locker. Lee, cheered to the rafters by a sizeable Malaysian contingent in the crowd, emerged top dog this time to claim his second All England crown. After an even start the Malaysian stretched into a 15-10 lead in the first game when Lin looked unsettled by a line call. Lee led 16-13 in the second and battled on grittily to land the spoils. Despite Lin’s defeat, China emerged from the tournament with three of the five titles after successes in the women’s singles and doubles and the mixed doubles.
CYCLING
Martin wins Paris-Nice
German all-rounder Tony Martin of the HTC-Highroad team won the 69th edition of the Paris-Nice on Sunday as French champion Thomas Voeckler claimed victory in the eighth and final stage. Martin, 25, took control of the race when he won Friday’s 27km time trial, and held on to his 36 second lead over compatriot Andreas Kloden to claim his second stage race victory in as many months. Despite an attack by Spanish Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez on the Col d’Eze leading into Nice, the German contained the threat to claim his first victory in the “Race to the Sun.” Kloden, the race winner in 2000 and a former runner-up in the Tour de France, was second with Wiggins in third place. Voeckler, meanwhile, defied another day of pouring rain to pick up his second stage win of the race for his Europcar team.
CYCLING
Gilbert wins stage in Italy
Belgian Philippe Gilbert of the Omega Pharma-Lotto team won the fifth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race on Sunday over 244km from Chieti, Italy, to Castelraimondo. Australian ace Cadel Evans took over the leader’s blue jersey with a two second advantage over Ivan Basso and three to Damiano Cunego. Gilbert stunned Wout Poels in a sprint finish after his Dutch rival had chased down a two-man breakaway, with Cunego coming in third. Overnight leader Robert Gesink of Rabobank dropped to fifth, five seconds back, after he was dropped on the final climb.
HOCKEY
Sabres legend dies in crash
Rick Martin, a member of the Buffalo Sabres’ fabled “French Connection” line in the 1970s, died on Sunday at the age of 59, the National Hockey League team said. The Sabres announced Martin’s death in a statement before Sunday’s game against Ottawa. New York state police said Martin died after a one-car crash in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence. NYSP Captain Steven Nigrelli said the car Martin was driving crossed the center line of the road and struck a utility pole before coming to rest against a tree. Nigrelli said witnesses saw Martin with his head slumped and eyes closed at the wheel and it appeared that he had “an undetermined medical emergency” prior to the accident. An autopsy is to be conducted to determine the cause of death, police said. Martin was selected fifth overall by the Sabres in the 1971 draft and made an impact on the team the following season when he scored what was then an NHL rookie record 44 goals. A native of LaSalle, Quebec, Martin played left wing on a line centered by Gilbert Perreault and Rene Robert, which became known as The French Connection.
BASKETBALL
UK teams make Olympics
The international basketball federation cleared Britain’s men’s and women’s teams to compete in next year’s London Olympics without qualifying on Sunday. The world governing body FIBA gave the teams a special exemption at a central board meeting after receiving guarantees that the host would improve its long-term basketball program after the games. Andy Hunt, the British team’s chef de mission, said that FIBA’s decision was a recognition of the progress made by British basketball in the last five years and expressed his hopes that both teams would secure good performances at the games. Britain has lagged far behind other European countries in basketball, but its men’s and women’s teams have both qualified for their European championships this year.
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
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