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

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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.