■ENGLAND
Inter make Lampard bid
Italian champions Inter made a bid of £6.5 million (US$12.8 million) for Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, British daily the Sun reported. Lampard, 30, has one year of his current contract left and could buy himself out of the remainder, the newspaper said. Alternatively, he could wait until January and sign a pre-contract agreement with Inter that would allow him to leave on a free transfer at the end of next season, the daily added. Lampard has been pressing for a new contract at Stamford Bridge for months, though Chelsea has continuously refused to complete negotiations on a deal, the Sun said.
■SPAIN
Barca president survives poll
FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta survived a confidence vote held on Sunday that was brought against him by a supporter who was angered by the Spanish club’s second straight season without any major title, final results show. Less than half of all Barcelona supporters who cast ballots, 37.75 percent, voted to keep the 45-year-old at the helm of the club, while 60.6 percent voted against him staying on, the club said on its Web site. But to be successful, the vote against Laporta needed to have the support of over two-thirds of voters with a minimum turnout of 10 percent of the 118,528 club members entitled to take part. The result means Laporta and his team will be able to continue at the helm of the club until their current term expires on June 30, 2010.
■ITALY
Blues want Kaka: Galliani
Chelsea made an “astronomical” offer for Brazil playmaker Kaka, a top AC Milan official reportedly said on Sunday. Vice president Adriano Galliani was asked in an interview in La Stampa if it had been difficult to keep Kaka at the Serie A club, which is owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. “For Kaka, we got an astronomical offer from Chelsea,” Galliani said. He did not say how much or when the offer was made. Chelsea did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Kaka signed with Milan in 2003, coming from Brazilian team Sao Paulo. He had knee surgery in Brazil in May and recently was quoted as saying he is on track to rejoin Milan to prepare for the upcoming season.
■SPAIN
Atletico sign Assuncao
Atletico Madrid announced on Sunday the signing of Brazilian midfielder Paulo Assuncao from Portuguese first division side Porto for an undisclosed fee. The 28-year-old joined his new teammates at Atletico yesterday, the Spanish club said in a statement posted on its Web site without specifying the length of his contract. Assuncao joined Porto in 2005 from AEK Athens, but has been eager to leave the Portuguese club after falling out with its management.
■ENGLAND
Crouch in Pompey move
Portsmouth agreed to pay Liverpool £11 million (US$21.8 million) for Peter Crouch and the England striker will sign a contract midweek, the Independent reported. The English Premier League clubs reached an agreement on Sunday, though Crouch, 27, can’t complete the move because some Liverpool officials do not return to work until this week, the newspaper said. Crouch also attracted similar-sized bids from Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, the Independent said. He opted for Portsmouth so he could link up again with Harry Redknapp, whom he played for more than six years ago during Redknapp’s first spell at Pompey, the paper said.
AGENCIES
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
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