Digest

Basketball

Djordjevic quits after Serbia's World Cup flop

Sasha Djordjevic has quit as Serbia's head coach in the wake of the Balkan nation's disappointing FIBA World Cup campaign.

Djordjevic broke the news after Olympic silver medalist Serbia beat the Czech Republic 90-81 in Beijing to finish in fifth place overall.

"I've already told the players I think it's time to leave," Djordjevic said through an interpreter. "That's it. I want to resign now. ... I'm leaving in a moment when we unfortunately didn't manage our goal."

Djordjevic claimed he decided to step down before the World Cup, suggesting he was not pushed by the poor performances in China, where Serbia's title bid was ended by Argentina at the quarterfinal stage.

"Life goes in some other direction for me," Djordjevic added. "I wanted to be with my family this summer. It wasn't easy. Everything was very tough - the preparation, the qualification and the competition."

Soccer

Coaching globe-trotter 'Restless Rudi' dies

Rudi Gutendorf, the tireless soccer manager who guided a world-record 55 teams, including 18 national sides, has died at 93, German media reported.

Born in Koblenz on the banks of the Rhine, the man dubbed "Restless Rudi" started his career as a player for hometown club TuS Neuendorf before taking his first management role with Swiss side Blue Stars Zurich in the 1950s.

Coaching proved infectious, and after building an impressive CV with top-flight teams in West Germany, Gutendorf crisscrossed the globe, taking up roles with Chile (1972-73), Australia (1978-79), China (1988, 1991-2) and others in a management career spanning half a century.

His wanderlust and the support of the German government saw him become a global soccer "missionary "and guide some of the world's most humble national teams in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Booed Neymar nets stunning PSG winner

Neymar shrugged off a hostile reception as he marked his return to action for Paris Saint-Germain with a stunning injury-time winner on Saturday, and then insisted it was time to move on from the saga of his aborted return to Barcelona.

The world's most expensive player was booed and insulted by sections of the PSG support in the Ligue 1 match against Strasbourg at Parc des Princes.

That seemed set to be the only story of the afternoon until the second minute of added time when, with the game still goalless, the Brazilian met Abdou Diallo's cross with an acrobatic effort that sent the ball arcing back over his own head and into the net off the post, sealing a 1-0 win.

"I made it clear that I have nothing against the fans, nothing against Paris Saint-Germain as a club. Everyone knows I wanted to leave. I am not going to get into the details of what happened," he told reporters after the game.

"It is time to turn the page. Today I am a Paris Saint-Germain player and I am going to give everything on the field."

Boxing

Fury survives cut to grind out Wallin win

Blood was flowing down Tyson Fury's right cheek, and Otto Wallin was in his face. His scheduled rematch with Deontay Wilder suddenly in jeopardy, Fury needed to dig deep in a fight that wasn't supposed to be this hard.

Fury did just that on Saturday night in Las Vegas, overcoming a bloody cut over his right eye to pound out a unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111 and 118-110) over the Swede and set up a heavyweight rematch with Wilder.

Fury remained unbeaten in 29 fights and retained his claim to the lineal heavyweight title against a fighter who was little known but gave the big Englishman all he could handle.

"I got caught early on which changed the fight completely," Fury said of the third-round punch that did the damage. "For the majority of fight I couldn't see."

With blood streaming down his face, Fury dominated from the middle rounds on in what was supposed to be a mere tuneup for his February rematch with Wilder. Afterwards, he called out Wilder, saying: "Deontay, I want you next, bum."

Ice Hockey

NHL bans Kuznetsov over failed cocaine test

Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov has been suspended for the first three games of the upcoming NHL season for "inappropriate conduct" after the Russian tested positive for cocaine.

The NHL announced the sanction on Saturday, and Kuznetsov said he would not appeal.

Kuznetsov tested positive in May while playing for Russia at the world championships in Slovakia.

The Switzerland-based International Ice Hockey Federation has already suspended him from playing for Russia for four years.

But positive tests for "drugs of abuse" do not carry automatic suspensions in the NHL.

Formula One

Singapore GP braced for 'unhealthy' haze

Pollution from forest fires in Indonesia pushed Singapore's air quality to unhealthy levels for the first time in three years on Saturday, the government said, a week ahead of the Formula One night race in the city.

The toxic smoke caused by burning to clear land for plantations is an annual problem for Indonesia's close neighbors, but has been worsened this year by particularly dry weather.

"There has been a deterioration in the haze conditions in Singapore this afternoon," the country's National Environment Agency said in a statement.

"This was due to a confluence of winds over the nearby region that led to more smoke haze from Sumatra being blown toward Singapore," it said, referring to one of the Indonesian islands where fires are currently raging.

Xinhua - Agencies

(China Daily Global 09/16/2019 page16)