La Liga's Referees Committee reported Rayo Vallecano Manager PACO JÉMEZ to the league's competition committee after the comments he made following his team's 10-2 loss to Real Madrid on Sunday. He said, "It's been a long time since I've seen something so absurd and embarrassing. ... The red cards were an assassination and from there, there was no game" (MARCA, 12/22). ... Women's Big Bash League side Sydney Sixers player ANGELA REAKES has pleaded guilty to betting A$9 ($6.50) "on the Cricket World Cup final and has received a two-year suspended sentence." Cricket Australia has "charged the 24-year-old with breaching its Anti-Corruption Code." Reakes "has received the penalty for breaching Article 2.2.1 of the Code." Reakes has also "received an official reprimand and is required to participate in CA's anti-corruption compliance education" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 12/23). ... PAUL PUT has been suspended as Jordan's national football coach pending "clarification" of a prison sentence in his homeland Belgium for match-fixing, the Jordan football federation said Tuesday. A Belgian appeals court last week "gave the 59-year-old a two-year jail term and ordered his immediate arrest for allowing a Chinese businessman to bribe players when he was coach of Lierse." The Jordan FA in a statement said that it "decided to immediately suspend the coach of the national team pending clarification of the legal situation in order to make a final decision" (TEN PLAY, 12/23). ... Russian basketball team CSKA Moscow President ANDREI VATUTIN "is in a stable condition in hospital after being attacked in the street on Monday." Russian media reported that Vatutin "was met by several assailants and was hit with a rubber baton, suffering injuries to his head, hands and feet" (SPORT BT, 12/22).
LORENZO ACCUSES SECTOR: MotoGP rider JORGE LORENZO indicated that Italian watch brand Sector, one of his former sponsors, resorted to "populism," "opportunism" and "manipulation" when it said that it was going to stop collaborating with him after incidents prior to this year's Valencia Grand Prix. Referring to the Malaysia GP on Oct. 25, when VALENTINO ROSSI caused MARC MÁRQUEZ to fall -- which ended up affecting Lorenzo's fight against Rossi for the world championship -- the brand announced on Nov. 5 that it would stop sponsoring Lorenzo because "he had not respected the values of sportsmanship, integrity and healthy competition." Lorenzo, however, said that "he and the brand had already agreed in September not to renew the sponsorship" (EFE, 12/21).
