Kevin Gameiro’s hat-trick guided Paris Saint-Germain to a 3-1 victory over AC Ajaccio on Sunday to maintain their three-point lead atop Ligue 1.
The France international opened the scoring in the second minute by flicking home Nene’s corner after it was redirected to him at the far post by Sylvain Armand.
Carl Medjani equalized from Arnaud Maire’s cross in the 24th minute, before PSG went ahead for good in the 50th minute when midfielder Mohamed Sissoko set up Gameiro to score his second.
Photo: AFP
Three minutes later, Gameiro tapped in a cutback from Clement Chantome to complete his impressive day and become the top scorer in the league with eight goals.
“Ajaccio troubled us in the first half, but the most important thing is the victory,” Gameiro said.
“We consolidated first place. We must keep going to stay in the lead as long as possible,” he said.
PSG lead Olympique Lyonnais and Montpellier Herault as they chase their first league title since 1994. They have quickly gelled as a team following an investment of 85 million euros (US$117 million) made this summer to sign nine players.
“We went back to the dressing room with the score tied and I didn’t like it,” PSG coach Antoine Kombouare said. “The most important thing is that we showed a different face after the break. We played with our qualities and made the difference with our game.”
Also on Sunday, Stade Rennais defeated Lorient 2-0 to climb to fifth place, while Valenciennes routed mid-table Sochaux-Montbeliard 3-0 to move out of the relegation zone.
In Rennes, Jires Kembo-Ekoko curled a free-kick from 25m into the top corner in the 10th minute.
The Rennes striker nearly doubled the lead on another set piece in the 18th minute, but Lorient goalkeeper Fabien Audard jumped to make the save. Instead, Burkina Faso forward Jonathan Pitroipa made it 2-0 in the 63rd minute by converting a penalty after Lorient fullback Arnaud Le Lan had tripped Kembo-Ekoko.
“We stifled Lorient,” Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti said. “We prevented them from playing. The players pressed high up the pitch relentlessly.”
Meanwhile in Valenciennes, Vincent Aboubakar controlled a throw-in from Gaetan Bong, spun and fired home in the 43rd minute.
Algeria midfielder Foued Kadir added a second goal on a counterattack in the 71st minute, before Aboubakar sealed the win with a close-range effort four minutes later.
“We’re happy and relieved tonight,” Valenciennes coach Daniel Sanchez said. “Our first half was average, but that goal just before halftime did us a lot of good. We were more ambitious and relaxed in the second half.”
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS