■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.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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