Red Bull Racing Motorsport Dir HELMUT MARKO has praised future F1 driver MAX VERSTAPPEN and "compared him to three-time world champion" AYRTON SENNA. Marko: "He’s an extraordinary talent, which comes around once every 10 years." Verstappen, 16, "will become the youngest F1 driver in history when he joins Red Bull’s junior team Torro Rosso at the start of the ’15 season" (KURIER, 9/24).
... Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart has reportedly parted ways with Sports Dir FREDI BOBIC. It has been reported that "the club's management is currently discussing how to proceed." The management along with President BERND WAHLER have lost faith in Bobic's work (DPA, 9/24). ... German Football League (DFL) Supervisory Board Chair REINHARD RAUBALL said that German Football Federation (DFB) President WOLFGANG NIERSBACH is ready to follow former DFB President THEO ZWANZIGER as a member of FIFA's exec committee. Zwanziger will leave the committee in May (SPIEGEL ONLINE, 9/24). ... Russian Premier League side Dynamo Moscow footballer CHRISTOPHER SAMBA "asked not to go out for the second half" of Monday's
Moscow derby against Torpedo "due to the racist abuse he was
receiving." A Russian Football Union representative "confirmed
racist chants had been directed at the former Blackburn and QPR
defender" (BBC, 9/23). ... The Lawn Tennis Association said that ANDY MURRAY is "unquestionably loyal" to Great Britain after he was "criticised for supporting Scottish independence." LTA CEO MICHAEL DOWNEY said that he welcomed Murray "actively engaging in the democratic process." Downey: "He's entitled to a view on the future of his country" (BBC, 9/24). ... The Spanish Basketball League (ACB) "informed CB Sevilla that it has not processed the coaching license" of SCOTT ROTH, who was hired in July. The club announced in a statement that "it will consider the steps to take to defend its rights" and added that it "respects but does not agree with the ACB's decision." Roth will not be able to coach an ACB club until he receives the license (EFE, 9/23). ... A ManU fan group will "launch a campaign" to bring CRISTIANO RONALDO back to Old Trafford "by hiring a plane to deliver a personal message" to the Portuguese player this weekend. United Reel has splashed out nearly £3,000 ($4,900) for a plane to fly over Real Madrid's game with Villarreal on Saturday while carrying the message "Come home Ronaldo" (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 9/24). ... EPL Queens Park Rangers player STEVEN CAULKER was handcuffed outside the Tesco Express store in Weybridge, Surrey, but let go after "confusion" at the store. Witnesses said that the defender, who earns more than £40,000 ($65,000) a week at Loftus Road, left the store but was heading back inside with the £1.85 ($3) tub of soft cheese "when police arrived and cuffed him." He "was immediately let go with the police confirming that no crime had been committed" (London INDEPENDENT, 9/24). ... Former Indian cricket player SACHIN TENDULKAR's "tryst with Australia and ‘The Don’ continues" as he "will be inducted as a Bradman honouree" along with former Australian Test captain STEVE WAUGH at a gala dinner in Sydney on Oct. 29 (PTI, 9/23).
GYAN DENIES RUMORS: Former EPL Sunderland striker ASAMOAH GYAN, who currently plays for UAE Pro-League side Al-Ain, issued a statement to "deny media rumours linking him to the alleged ritual sacrifice of his friend, the Ghanaian rapper CASTRO." Castro, whose real name is THEOPHILUS TAGOE, and his girlfriend, JANET BADU, "both disappeared in late July while using jet skis during a holiday with Gyan's family at a resort in Ada, Ghana." Both were presumed drowned, "but the fact that no bodies were recovered lead to increasingly lurid speculation in the press over what happened to the pair" (London GUARDIAN, 9/24).
DAVIS CUP CONTROVERSY: RAFAEL NADAL's coach, his uncle TONI NADAL, criticized the "appointment of a
woman as the captain of Spain's Davis Cup team, arguing there are
substantial differences between the men's and women's games." Toni Nadal's comments "have been labelled sexist by Spain's leading political
parties, and go against both the backing which the decision has
received from others in tennis and also the history of the sport in the
Mediterranean country." GALA LEON became the "first woman to be appointed captain" of the country's Davis Cup team on
Sunday. Nadal's coach said, "I
have nothing against her, I don't know what her capabilities are, and I
hope she does her job well, but in theory she is a person that doesn't
know men's tennis, because men's tennis isn't the same as women's
tennis" (AP, 9/24).
