Protesters waving red cards at FIFA President SEPP BLATTER "overshadowed the opening of the new offices" of the Hong Kong FA at Ho Man Tin on Thursday. Blatter "airily brushed aside the presence of about a dozen young protesters" demonstrating against the deaths and the exploitation of migrant workers building stadiums for the 2022 Qatar World Cup despite his opening address almost "being drowned out by the loudspeaker-wielding crowd" (SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 4/24) ... Australian Football League Sydney Swans Chair ANDREW PRIDHAM has defended forward LANCE FRANKLIN as a "model recruit" who is the victim of "bullying" by the media, after the latest drama involving the star forward. As Franklin publicly apologized on Thursday "for the damage he caused in a prang on Wednesday night, the Swans closed ranks" around their A$10M ($9.3M) spearhead. Pridham: "From our perspective he's been a model recruit in terms of behaviour around the club. He's like a big kid -- he's a nice guy, very approachable, sociable" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 4/24). ... Int'l Sailing Federation VP ADRIENNE GREENWOOD was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the annual New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards (ISAF). ... Convicted football match-fixer WILSON RAJ PERUMAL "is being held by Finnish police on an international arrest warrant." The Singaporean "has already served time in Finland for match-fixing." Singaporean authorities confirmed on Thursday that they "were making efforts to extradite Perumal" (BBC, 4/24). ... London Olympic champion SUN YANG had his ban "lifted Thursday." He will be trained under former Chinese head coach ZHANG YADONG after his long-term coach ZHU ZHIGEN "resigned due to health reasons." Both the Chinese swimming national team and the Zhejiang College of Sports lifted Sun's ban of competition and endorsement Thursday. The college had allowed Yang "back to training on March 19" (XINHUA, 4/24).
MARSHALL'S REBOUND: National Rugby League player BENJI MARSHALL's "failed rugby union experiment" is likely to cost him A$2M ($1.8M), with the former Kiwi Int'l set to return to Australia as soon as Friday "to finalise a budget conscious NRL comeback." Marshall "turned his back on a three-year extension" worth A$2.1M -- on top of a lucrative TV deal with Channel Nine -- when he quit Wests Tigers last season. Marshall "is now weighing up interest from Cronulla and Melbourne." But whatever deal Marshall settles on "will not come remotely close to what he would have earned by sticking with the Tigers or rugby'' (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 4/24).
