■ BANGLADESH
Players booted out
Seven Cameroonian players arriving to play in the country's professional league were kicked into touch by airport officials yesterday. Immigration officers said the players were refused entry and sent home because they had not presented valid documents on their arrival from Dubai. "They had no visa granted by any Bangladesh embassy abroad and also could not show invitations from any Dhaka soccer club in order to attain their arrival visa," said an airport official. A number of African players have been plying their trade in Bangladesh since the country launched a professional league last year.
■ ITALY
Court overturns penalty
Serie A strugglers Cagliari are off the bottom of the table after the federal court of justice overturned a three-point penalty imposed on the Sardinians. Cagliari had been docked points following a dispute with the Italian Football Federation (IFF) after the club took legal action against former player Gianluca Grassadonia, who in a newspaper interview accused Cagliari of doping violations and of having ties to groups of violent supporters. Under IFF rules, however, clubs are obliged to either take their complaints before a sports tribunal or seek IFF clearance before taking such legal action. The Federal court's decision means that in-form Cagliari are now only goal difference away from escaping the bottom three. Empoli now prop up the table with 26 points, behind Reggina on 27 and Cagliari and Livorno on 28.
■ CHINA
Coach fired by e-mail
The Frenchwoman charged with leading China's women's team to the Beijing Olympics has been fired by e-mail, local media reported yesterday. Elisabeth Loisel, who took over as coach in October, had a brief and troubled reign marked by poor results and disputes with Chinese Football Association (CFA) staff. The coach told the China Daily from France that she had received an e-mail from the CFA saying her services were no longer required and had cancelled her planned return to China. "I had doubts when I received the e-mail, so I decided to go to China according to the schedule," she told the paper. "But I knew the truth at the last moment that the e-mail had actually been sent by the CFA. So I think it would not make any difference if I went to China." Shang Ruihua, 64, will return to the post he last held in the early 1990s and oversee preparations for August's Beijing Olympics, the paper said.
■ BOLIVIA
Amateur club signs Morales
President Evo Morales has signed with a minor league soccer club in La Paz. The 47-year-old Morales is listed as a reserve player for Litoral, an amateur second-division squad organized by the Bolivian National Police, La Paz Soccer Association official Renato Arellano said on Wednesday. Litoral can earn promotion to Bolivia's top professional league if they manage to win a long series of qualifying tournaments this year. As a young man, Morales' soccer skills helped drive his rise to the presidency of Bolivia's largest coca-growers' union, a post that launched his political career. Since his 2005 election as Bolivia's first indigenous president he has regularly played in practice matches with his palace staffers and retired Bolivian stars. Morales has been an outspoken critic of FIFA's ban on high-altitude games, which prevent Bolivia from playing internationals in La Paz.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946