Valcke banned 12 years by Fifa tribunal
BERLIN • The Fifa ethics committee tribunal yesterday banned former secretary general Jerome Valcke for 12 years from all football related activities, for misconduct ranging from involvement in a World Cup ticket scam to "sightseeing" travel at the expense of the world body.
The 54-year-old had denied any wrongdoing after he was implicated in the sale of black market tickets for the 2014 World Cup.
REUTERS
Payet staying with Hammers till 2021
LONDON • West Ham United's influential French international Dimitri Payet has signed a new long-term contract until 2021.
The playmaker signed a 51/2-year deal with the English Premier League football outfit when he joined from Olympique Marseille last year, but his performances this season have attracted interest from rival clubs, including some in the big-spending Chinese Super League.
REUTERS
Yu considered to have served ban
KUALA LUMPUR • Chinese women's badminton player Yu Xiaohan has been hit with a retroactive seven-month ban after she was found last July to have ingested sibutramine, a prohibited substance found in a drug used to treat obesity, at the Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea.
Yu, a doubles player, said she took the substance inadvertently via a supplement and the Badminton World Federation announced it has accepted the explanation and the ban is now considered to have been served and her eligibility restored.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Al Nassr give Cannavaro the chop
KUALA LUMPUR • Italian World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro has been sacked as manager of Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr after a four-month spell in charge, the Asian Football Confederation said.
The 42-year-old's final game was Thursday's 3-4 loss to Najran that left the defending champions sixth in the table with 10 games remaining.
REUTERS
Cricket umpire suspended 5 years
NEW DELHI • India's cricket board has handed Pakistani former Test umpire Asad Rauf a five-year ban, after a tribunal found him guilty of taking bribes from bookmakers while officiating in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The 59-year-old absconded in the middle of the 2013 edition of the IPL and he was subsequently struck off the International Cricket Council's elite panel of umpires. He has not officiated outside Pakistan since then.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Henin is consultant to Ukraine's Svitolina
KIEV • Former world No. 1 Justine Henin is set to serve as a coaching consultant to Ukraine's top tennis player Elina Svitolina. The 21-year-old had studied at Henin's tennis academy in Belgium and practised under her supervision in Abu Dhabi.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
