Ranieri lands post as new coach of Nantes

NANTES • Claudio Ranieri is the new coach of Nantes, the Ligue 1 football club said yesterday, just four months after he was sacked by Leicester City.

Nantes had to ask for - and received - special dispensation from French league officials to hire the popular Italian due to Ranieri having reached the manager's age limit of 65.

Nantes finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season, but a week ago agreed to allow Portuguese coach Sergio Conceicao to return to his homeland and take over the reins at Porto.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Ivory Coast to pay their respects to Tiote

ABIDJAN • Cheick Tiote's body will arrive back in the Ivory Coast tomorrow where tributes will be paid to the late Ivorian footballer by his former team-mates, the Ivorian Football Federation (IFF) said on Monday.

Tiote - who was a member of the Ivory Coast squad that ended a 23-year drought by winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations - died on June 5 aged 30, after "suddenly fainting" during a training session with his second-tier Chinese club Beijing Enterprises.

His cause of death is still being investigated but it appears likely to be a cardiac arrest at this stage.

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British Lions slump to their 2nd loss on tour

DUNEDIN • The British and Irish Lions stumbled to a 22-23 defeat by the Otago Highlanders yesterday as they suffered the second loss of their rugby tour ahead of next week's first Test against the All Blacks.

The Lions finally found their attacking mojo, scoring three tries to two - more than doubling their try tally so far - but lost from a winning position through a late penalty.

They now have two wins and two losses after four outings on their gruelling 10-match New Zealand tour, with the first Test in Auckland looming a week later on Saturday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE