■ SOCCER
Palermo pile on Juve misery
Bogey side Palermo embarrassed Juventus 3-1 away on Thursday to leave the Turin club at a new low ebb. The visitors, without a Serie A win this term prior to the game, were quickly ahead when skilful Argentine playmaker Javier Pastore pounced after Marco Storari could only parry Mauricio Pinilla’s shot on two minutes. Pastore pulled the strings all game and when Storari pushed away his fierce effort in the second half, Josip Ilicic was on hand to score the second. Cesare Bovo’s 85th-minute free-kick then gave Juve fans a familiar sinking feeling. Vincenzo Iaquinta headed in a late consolation for the hosts. Palermo have now won at Turin’s Stadio Olimpico on their last three visits and also beat Juve at home last term. Juve, in the bottom half on four points from four games like Palermo, spent big in the close season, but fans fear Italy’s most successful domestic team have bought good rather than great players who could struggle to reverse the club’s decline since a 2006 match-fixing demotion.
■ SOCCER
Cleo becomes Serbian
The Serbian government has granted citizenship to Brazilian-born Partizan Belgrade striker Cleverson Gabriel Cordova Cleo. The move is apparently designed to enable Cleo to play for Serbia in their qualifying campaign for the 2012 European Championship. Serbia’s next match is against Estonia on Oct. 8. Four days later Serbia play in Italy. It was not immediately clear when Cleo could join up with the team. The 25-year-old joined Partizan last year after playing for rivals Red Star Belgrade for a year.
■ TENNIS
French Open may stay put
The French Open could stay at Roland Garros instead of moving to the Paris suburbs after plans to extend the Grand Slam venue took a step forward, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) president said on Thursday. “There has been significant progress for the project ‘Roland Garros within Roland Garros’ although nothing is final,” Jean Gachassin told reporters. The FFT was granted a concession to use several courts next to the Roland Garros Stadium, which may be enough for the tournament to remain in its current location. “Ten days ago, we were granted a concession to the Jean Bouin Stadium [which] is huge because it means 17 courts some 100m from Roland Garros,” Gachassin said. Despite the progress, a move has still not been ruled out, with Gachassin adding: “We are still considering Marne La Vallee, Gonesse and Versailles.” A decision will be made during an FFT general meeting in February, with the new Roland Garros set to be made available by 2015 or 2016. “Obviously, there is a soul at Roland Garros. We have to take this into account,” Gachassin said.
■ BOXING
Khan to hit Vegas
Britain’s Amir Khan will defend his World Boxing Association light welterweight world title on Dec. 11 in Las Vegas, taking on Argentina’s Marcos Maidana, Golden Boy Promotions confirmed on Thursday. Khan, who fashioned a stunning US debut when he stopped Paulie Malignaggi in the 11th round of a lopsided bout in New York in May, will fight in Vegas for the first time. He agreed earlier this month to what could prove a tough encounter with Maidana, who has won four straight fights since dropping a split decision to Andreas Kotelnik last year. Khan, who won Olympic silver in Athens, beat Kotelnik last year to claim the light welterweight crown.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
STUMBLE: World No. 2 Coco Gauff confidently won her first set against seventh-seed Italian Jasmine Paolini before being overcome in the second and third sets World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Coco Gauff were sent crashing out of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Friday, while Carlos Alcaraz fought off a fierce challenge from Andrey Rublev to reach the semi-finals. Top seed and defending champion Sabalenka had no answer for Elena Rybakina, falling to the 2022 Wimbledon champion 6-1, 6-4. Reigning French Open champion Gauff had 16 double faults in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 exit at the hands of seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini. Spain’s second-ranked Alcaraz had his difficulties, but he broke Rublev in the final game of a tense duel to emerge a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 winner
Spanish champions Barcelona opened their Spanish La Liga campaign on Saturday with an island cruise as they played almost an hour against nine men on their way to a 3-0 victory in RCD Mallorca. Barcelona’s second-half stroll did not please coach Hansi Flick. “They’re three important points, but I didn’t like the match,” he told broadcaster Movistar. “After going two goals up and following Mallorca’s two red cards, I think the team only gave 50 percent, and I didn’t like that,” he said. “Playing at 50 or 60 per cent is not possible against nine players.” Two of Barcelona’s Ballon
Manchester City signaled their intent to take back the English Premier League title as Erling Haaland struck twice in a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to begin their campaign. After four consecutive titles, City finished a distant third last season as Pep Guardiola’s men failed to win any trophy for the first time in eight years. New signings Tijjani Reijnders, who was the star of the show at Molineux, and Rayan Cherki were also on target to give Guardiola hope his side would be back in the title race this season. “We knew he is a top signing
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