■FRANCE
Paris St Germain go third
Paris Saint Germain moved to third place in Ligue 1 on Sunday with a 1-0 win at the Parc des Princes over bottom club Nantes. Serbian midfielder Mateja Kezman, a former Partizan Belgrade, PSV Eindhoven and Chelsea player, converted a penalty after Guirane Ndaw fouled Guillaume Hoarau. The Paris club, who were playing without suspended captain Claude Makelele, dominated the game throughout, but were unable to penetrate a sturdy Nantes defense. “It was a difficult match, but we won. It’s good to be back to the leading bunch,” midfielder Stephane Sessegnon told French television channel Canal Plus. After three wins, a draw and a defeat, PSG are on 10 points, ahead of promoted Grenoble on goal difference. The Ligue 1 leaders are Olympique Lyon, who host Fiorentina in their Champions League opener tomorrow. Lyon came from behind to grab a 3-2 home win over Nice on Saturday thanks to a controversial free-kick and a stoppage time penalty.
■RUSSIA
Rubin Kazan edge Dynamo
Russian premier league leaders Rubin Kazan moved a step closer to their first title by beating Dynamo Moscow 1-0 in the top-of-the-table clash on Sunday. Former Ukraine striker Serhiy Rebrov, who joined Rubin from Dynamo Kiev in March, scored in the second minute to give the Kazan side 45 points from 21 matches and a nine-point lead over second-placed Dynamo with the same number of games remaining. Amkar Perm, 2-1 winners at Shinnik Yaroslavl, are third with 35 points. Serbia winger Milos Krasic scored twice to lead CSKA Moscow to a 4-1 rout of struggling Luch Vladivostok, lifting the army side to fourth place, also on 35 points. On Saturday, FK Moscow edged out city rivals Spartak 2-1 to spoil Michael Laudrup’s debut as Spartak coach. The former Denmark international, who played for Real Madrid and Barcelona in the 1990s, replaced Stanislav Cherchesov on Friday following a string of poor results. The defeat dropped Spartak to sixth place, 12 points behind the leaders. Champions Zenit St Petersburg crushed Terek Grozny 4-1 to stay in the title hunt by moving up to seventh on 31 points with a game in hand. The match was moved Grozny to nearby Makhachkala following an assault on a referee in their previous home game.
■GERMANY
Hanover score five goals
Former Germany striker Jan Schlaudraff recovered his scoring touch to help Hanover 96 get their season going at last with a 5-1 win over Borussia Munchengladbach on Sunday. Schlaudraff and Szabolcs Huszti each scored twice, while Mikael Forssell added a late penalty to give Hanover their first win of the season and propel them to 12th place with four points. Munchengladbach are a point behind them in 15th. VfL Bochum also moved out of the Bundesliga relegation places and into mid-table with a 2-0 win at home to Arminia Bielefeld.
■ENGLAND
Magpies put up for sale
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley announced on Sunday he wanted to sell the troubled English Premier League club. Ashley, a self-made millionaire, has become a hate figure with many of the northeast side’s supporters, who blame him for the resignation of popular manager Kevin Keegan. “I am putting the club up for sale,” Ashley said in a statement. “I hope that the fans can get what they want and that the next owner is someone who can lavish the amount of money on the club that the fans want.”
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
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