RUSSIA
Champions held by Amkar
Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg remain two points adrift of current league leaders CSKA Moscow after being held to a 1-1 draw by Amkar Perm on Sunday. The slip-up comes 24 hours after CSKA were held to a 1-1 draw away to Rubin Kazan. The Red Army side remain top of the table with 42 points from 20 matches, two points ahead of Zenit, with Dynamo Moscow third on 38 points. Zenit looked in command early on at the Petrovsky Stadium, but it was Amkar who netted the opening goal midway through the first half when Aleksandr Kolomeytsev converted Georgi Peev’s cross. Danko Lazovic missed a penalty for Zenit just before the break, but Alexander Kerzhakov leveled seven minutes after the restart with a header from Viktor Faizulin’s cross. On Saturday, Bibras Natcho gave Rubin the lead from the penalty spot against CSKA, before the visitors won a spot-kick of their own midway through the second half. Sergei Ignashevich blazed his effort over the bar. However, Leonid Slutsky’s side did draw level courtesy of substitute Alan Dzagoev five minutes into stoppage-time.
BELGIUM
Chen back to winning ways
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen got back to winning ways on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Lierse SK at the Argosstadion Achter de Kazerne. The hosts took the lead on 18 minutes courtesy of Alessandro Cordaro, only to be pegged back on 58 minutes when Peter Kovacs struck for Lierse. French midfielder Julien Gorius struck the winner for Mechelen in the 83rd minute. Chen played the full 90 minutes. The result saw Mechelen move into third place in the Jupiler League table on six points, behind leaders Club Brugge KV, seven points, and second-placed RSC Anderlecht, six points, on goal-difference.
PORTUGAL
Porto off to a flying start
Champions Porto beat Vitoria Guimaraes 1-0 on Sunday to take a head start over title contenders Benfica and Sporting, who were both held to draws in the opening round of matches. Brazilian forward Hulk scored Porto’s match-winner from the spot just before halftime after Sapunaru was brought down in the area by Leonel Olimpio. Porto have played Guimaraes in their last three matches, thrashing them 6-2 in May to claim the Portuguese Cup and 2-1 a week ago to lift the Super Cup. Last season’s runners-up Benfica drew 2-2 at newly promoted Gil Vicente after failing to defend an early two-goal lead. Spanish forward Nolito and Argentine striker Javier Saviola scored one each for Benfica in the first 20 minutes, before Gil Vicente striker Hugo Vieira pulled one back on 37 minutes. Brazilian forward Laionel then completed Gil Vicente’s comeback midway through the second half. Sporting drew 1-1 at home with Olhanense.
ENGLAND
Dunga threatens to sue QPR
Former Brazil coach Dunga is threatening to sue Queens Park Rangers to recover a loan he claims he gave to the Premier League club. In a statement issued through his lawyers, Dunga said QPR owe him ￡750,000 (US$1.2 million) after he helped the club in 2006. “I loaned my money to QPR in good faith when they needed it and am very disappointed that the new owners, who are very wealthy, are now refusing to pay it back,” Dunga said. “I am fully confident in the English system of justice and that the court will help me recover my loans.” The club is owned by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, the wealthiest person in Britain.
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
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
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
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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