Club accused of match-fixing attempt
Club accused of match-fixing attempt
HANOI: A player in Vietnam's top football team Hoang Anh has accused two of his teammates of trying to fix a match against Indonesia last year in an interview published Sunday in the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper.
Midfielder Nguyen Manh Dung said players Nguyen Viet Thang and Luong Trung Tuan had let their teammates know they could earn US$5,000 each if Indonesian side Persita won the ASEAN club championship game in July by one goal, the paper said.
Hoang Anh is Vietnam's richest club and is the 2003 champion in the domestic V-league series.
Nguyen Viet Thang had allegedly made the offer the day before the match against Persita on July 13, Thanh Nien reported. --AFP
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-Tennis-ATP Agassi, Ferrero lead ATP into Masters JP/9/ATP
Agassi, Ferrero lead ATP into Masters
MONTREAL, Canada: World number one Andre Agassi and second-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain lead the best men's tennis players into the ATP Masters Series Canada hardcourt event starting here Monday.
The US$2.45 million event, won last year by seventh-ranked Guillermo Coria of Argentina, is followed by another Masters Series stop in Cincinnati as the two primary tuneup events for the US Open, which starts Aug. 25.
Australian Open champion Agassi will open against Canadian Frederic Niemeyer while French Open champion Ferrero opens against a qualifier and third-ranked Roger Federer, the Wimbledon champion, opens with Argentina's Gaston Gaudio.
Fourth seed Carlos Moya of Spain opens against France's Arnaud Clement while Australia's Lleyton Hewitt goes against a qualifier in his first match.
American Andy Roddick is seeded sixth followed by Gaudio and Germany's Rainer Schuttler. --AFP
;AFP; ANPAs..r.. Putbrief-McLaren McLaren deny using team orders JP/9/Mclaren
McLaren denies using team orders
HOCKENHEIM, Germany: McLaren refuted claims here Saturday that it had used 'banned' team orders during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago.
World champion Michael Schumacher raised the point on Thursday that David Coulthard had allowed teammate Kimi Raikkonen to pass him at Silverstone with the pair on different strategies.
But McLaren team-boss Ron Dennis said he had not implemented any team orders, which were outlawed after Schumacher's Ferrari team manipulated the result of the Austrian Grand Prix in 2002.
"There were no team orders during Silverstone, very simple," Dennis said.
Norbert Haug, motorsport director of McLaren's engine partners Mercedes, insisted Schumacher made his comments to raise the point - and not to accuse McLaren.
"One fundamental point - Michael made the point (to clarify to us) that he has not the slightest problem with (what happened at Silverstone)," Haug said.