■PALESTINE
Palestine draw at home
Palestinians finally got to play international soccer on home soil on Sunday, drawing 1-1 with Jordan in front of packed stands. The Palestinian team, recognized by FIFA a decade ago, played at a new 6,500 seat stadium in the occupied West Bank town of al-Ram, near Jerusalem, in a match attended by FIFA president Sepp Blatter. The stands overflowed with fans and hundreds also watched from rooftops of vehicles and nearby homes as the Palestinians took an early lead, when in the fourth minute Ahmed Kashkash broke through the Jordanian defense. Kashkash rounded advancing keeper Loay Amayrah and slotted the ball home from the edge of the area. Jordan equalized with a goal in the 48th minute, when with the Palestinian defense in disarray, Raed Nawatir had an easy task putting the ball away after sending goalkeeper Mohammed Shobeer in the wrong direction.
■GREECE
Aris down the champions
Spanish striker Javito scored a first-half goal on Sunday to help Aris beat visiting Olympiakos 1-0 in the Greek league. It was the first defeat this season for the defending champions, who still top the league with 16 points. PAOK beat Levadiakos 3-1 on Saturday to be second with 15 points. Aris controlled play throughout, with Javito scoring with a header in the 18th minute. A disorganized Olympiakos had their best chance in the 90th minute, when a blistering shot by Fernando Belluschi from inside the area sailed over the crossbar. Panathinaikos drew 2-2 at home with Iraklis. Panathinaikos is fourth with 11 points, but has a match in hand. Panathinaikos took the lead in the 33rd minute after a header by Vangelis Mantzios. Iraklis leveled in the 62nd minute when Manolis Papasterianos scored with a deflected shot off Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vyntraon after a counterattack. Two minutes later, 25,000 Panathinaikos fans at Athens Olympic Stadium were silenced when Kiko Raton gave Iraklis a 2-1 lead off a pass from Papasterianos. But Dimitris Salpingidis equalized just seconds before the final whistle after a cross by Sotiris Ninis. Also on Sunday, it was Thrasivoulos 3, AEK 3; Xanthi 2, Panserraikos 1; and Ergotelis 2, Panionios 5.
■PORTUGAL
Nacional join Leixoes at top
Nacional Madeira joined Leixoes at the top of the Portuguese Premier League table after a 1-0 win at home over Vitoria Setubal on Sunday. Brazilian striker Nene gave Nacional victory with a penalty after Setubal defender Auri handled after 78 minutes. The two unheralded teams have 13 points from six games. Benfica, who beat Naval 2-1, are a point behind. Champions Porto, who suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season when they were beaten 3-2 at home by neighbors Leixoes on Saturday, dropped to fourth spot two points behind the leaders.
■ARGENTINA
River Plate lose again
River Plate’s miserable run continued on Sunday when they lost 1-0 at Gimnasia-Jujuy in the Argentine championship, their third such defeat in a week. At the other end of the table, leaders San Lorenzo’s run of six wins came to an end in a 2-1 defeat by Racing Club. Beaten 1-0 by arch-rivals Boca Juniors the previous Sunday and then at home by Mexican side Guadalajara in the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday, champions River remained 19th in the 20-team table. Diego Simeone’s team have won only once in 11 league games and are ahead of bottom-of-the-table Rosario Central on goal difference.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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