Sports World: Spalletti sends Totti home as row worsens

Spalletti sends Totti home as row worsens

MILAN • Roma coach Luciano Spalletti upped the stakes in a recent spat with Francesco Totti by sending the club icon home hours before he was due to start in their Serie A match against Palermo yesterday.

This, after the 39-year-old player hit out at the coach in an interview with RAI television.

The interview appeared to show the strained relationship between the pair when Totti said: "I respect him as a person and as a coach, but I would have preferred he told me to my face the things that I've read in the newspapers."

He had recently returned after a lengthy injury lay-off.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Chinese shuttlers taken the full distance

Top seeds China fought back from 0-2 down to edge out Japan 3-2 to win the women's event in the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Hyderabad, India yesterday.

Semi-finalists South Korea and Thailand have also qualified for the Uber Cup Finals in China in May.

Aussie golfers to give back part of earnings

MELBOURNE • Australia's new wave of elite professional golfers have agreed to return a portion of their prize money to the country's high performance programme if they reach a high ranking, the sport's national association said yesterday.

Golf Australia's "Give Back" programme will have the country's high-performance graduates contribute a "small percentage" of prize money if they reach the men's top 125 in world rankings or the women's top 50.

REUTERS

Fraser comes from behind to win KL event

KUALA LUMPUR • Australian Marcus Fraser sank testing putts on his final two holes to land the European Tour's US$3 million (S$4.2 million) Maybank Championship Malaysia yesterday, after overnight leader Lee Soo Min fell apart down the stretch.

The 37-year-old ended his almost six-year trophy drought after closing with a final-round three-under 68 at the Royal Selangor Golf Club for a 15-under 269 total, two better than Lee (73) and Filipino Miguel Tabuena (68).

Mardan Mamat finished with a 71 for a 282 total to be joint 45th, while fellow Singaporean Koh Deng Shan shot a 74 to total 288 and tie for 65th.

REUTERS

Strong defence boosts PSV's preparations

AMSTERDAM • A third straight clean sheet proved the high point of Saturday's win in the Dutch football league for PSV Eindhoven coach Philip Cocu, as his team prepare to host Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday.

PSV extended their lead at the top of the Eredivisie standings to four points over Ajax by beating Heracles Almelo 2-0.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 22, 2016, with the headline Sports World: Spalletti sends Totti home as row worsens. Subscribe