Banned: The Czech football association yesterday ordered top-flight side Slavia Prague to play three games behind closed doors for a fan riot that brought a cup match to a halt last week. “The association has (also) decided to fine Slavia 750,000 koruna (31,000 euros, $44,000),” Jiri Golda, head of the association’s disciplinary body, told reporters. Hundreds of fans, angered by Slavia’s opaque ownership structure and financing that has brought the oldest Czech club to the verge of collapse, charged onto the pitch at half-time of a Czech Cup semi-final tie on May 5.
Busquets: UEFA have opened a disciplinary case against Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets over alleged racist abuse in the Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid. The capital club published a video on their website ahead of the second leg, with a subtitle alleging Busquets had made a racist remark towards wing-back Marcelo during Barca’s 2-0 win at the Bernabeu. The case will be dealt with on Sunday, with the European governing body’s decision communicated to the clubs on Monday.
Dortmund: Newly crowned German champions Borussia Dortmund are in talks to sign FC Bruges’ Croatian international striker Ivan Perisic. “We’re in the middle of discussions with the Germans but nothing has been signed yet,” said Bruges general manager Vincent Mannaert. Perisic, 22, joined Bruges from Sochaux for a fee of €250,000.
Weight fines: A football club coach in Kazakhstan plans to introduce fines for players he considers are out of shape. Following a recent game in the Central Asian state, Shakhter coach Viktor Kumykov complained about the physique of the team’s captain, Andrei Finonchenko. “Andrei has gained excessive weight,” Kumykov told local newspaper Novy Vestnik.
Stuttgart: Guinea midfielder Ibrahima Traore has signed a three-year contract with Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart. The 23-year-old, has signed up on a free contract, having helped Augsburg win promotion this season.
The Championship: Promotion play-off SF, first leg – Nottingham Forest vs Swansea 0-0.
Tennis: Former world number one Serena Williams yesterday was forced to pull out of the French Open, the tournament she won in 2002, after failing to recover from a long-term foot injury, the French tennis federation said. Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam singles champion, has not played a top-level match since winning last year’s Wimbledon title after cutting her right foot on broken glass last July, an injury that required two operations. “Serena has not sufficiently recovered from her health problems,” said a French tennis federation (FFT) statement.
Commonwealth Games: A top Commonwealth Games official yesterday said the sports body will attempt to convince the International Cricket Council (ICC) to include Twenty20 cricket in future Games editions. “We need to engage the ICC to include cricket as we want to sustain the Games as one of the world’s leading multi-sport events,” Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) sports review committee chairman Tunku Imran told AFP. But Tunku Imran admitted that it would be an uphill task to get the ICC to agree to their request.
Basketball, NBA: LeBron James and the Miami Heat put the final touches on their second round play-off series with a dramatic fourth quarter finish on Wednesday. Miami advanced to the NBA play-off semi-finals, defeating the Boston Celtics 97-87 with the help of some clutch late baskets from James and a team-high 34 points by Dwyane Wade. Miami took advantage of three turnovers and five missed shots in the final five minutes by the Celtics to score the last 16 points of the fourth quarter and win the series 4-1.
Table Tennis: Veteran Belgian table tennis player Jean-Michel Saive has qualified for the London 2012 Games in what will be his seventh consecutive Olympics. The 41-year-old former world number one, who competed in his first Games in Seoul in 1988, gained his ticket for 2012 after winning his first-round match at the world championships. Despite losing his second-round match he climbed into the world’s top 28 ranked players who gain automatic qualification for next year’s Games.