Golden show by juniors

New Delhi: Junior Indian paddlers collected as many as eight medals including two golds, at the 2004 Canadian junior Open in Vancouver. Soumyajit Sarkar, Sanil Shankar Shetty, Sushovan Das and Shubam Sharma won the cadet team gold after beating Hong Kong 3-0 in the final of the championships held last month.

Sarkar and Shetty won the second gold for India as they beat Das and Sharma for the cadet boys doubles championships. Sarkar won silver in the cadet boys’ singles. Cadet B secured the team silver. Divya Deshpande in the cadet girls’ singles and Pallabi Kundu and Soumi Mondal in cadet girls’ team championships bagged the bronze.

Mourinho threats

Lisbon: Jose Mourinho said he received death threats before the Champions League final won by his Porto side last May.

Mourinho, now managing Premier League club Chelsea, told of the threats against himself and his family in a new book A Cycle of Victories to be released on Sunday.

“The telephone rang and on the other end a guy said to me, ‘We’re not going to do anything now, because you have this final to play, but after the final, you’re a dead man,’” Mourinho told TVI television. The comments were reported in O Jogo and Correio da Manha newspapers on Thursday. ‘“As soon as you get back to Porto, your bed is made, we’re going to get you, you don’t have a chance.’”

Mourinho, 41, received another threat and told Portuguese police about them.

Fabien to continue

Paris: Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has cleared up doubts about his international future, saying he is determined to play for France until the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

“It took me some time to think about it. But I’ve made up my mind,” Barthez was quoted as saying by sports daily L’Equipe on Thursday. “I’m here for the next two years. I’m staying until 2006.”

Barthez said the retirements of Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Bixente had come as a shock. “It’s true that, for a while, I con sidered stopping too. But like my father always says you need to sleep on a decision,” Barthez said.

With 71 appearances, Barthez, 33, is the most capped goalkeeper in French soccer history.

Bangkok: A bid by Thai media tycoon Paiboon Damrongchaitham to buy a stake in Liverpool may fall through because the Premier League club is in better financial shape, a Thai cabinet minister said on Thursday.

“After Euro 2004, they seemed to be less enthusiastic on the deal,” Deputy Commerce Minister Pongsak Raktapongpisal, who opened negotiations for the government before handing on to Paiboon said. Asked if Liverpool had become reluctant to sell a stake, he said: “It seems that way.”

Bielsa angry

Buenos Aires: Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa angrily hit out at Spanish champions Valencia on Wednesday after their midfielder Pablo Aimar failed to arrive for training with the South Americans.

Aimar was due to begin training with his country on Tuesday for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier away to Peru.

“There’s been a clear alteration of the rules on Valencia’s part,” said the normally placid Bielsa. “He played (in a league match) against Villareal on Monday when he shouldn’t have done. He should be here with us.”

His absence appeared to be a tit-for-tat reprisal after central defender Roberto Ayala, another Argentine international who plays for Valencia, was injured while playing at the Olympic Games.

Hong Kong keen

Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s leader is lobbying Beijing for permission to host an event in the 2008 Olympics, but China so far has been noncommittal, a broadcaster reported on Thursday.

Radio Rthk quoted current leader Tung Chee-hwa as telling reporters he made the request to Beijing’s top communist party official, Liu Qi, who is in town for a conference on economic cooperation between Hong Kong and the capital. The report did not indicate whether Tung expressed a preference for which event Hong Kong wants to host.