Werder Bremen, coach: According to the club, an investigation has been initiated against Werder Bremen’s trainer Markus Anfang because of the alleged use of a forged vaccination certificate. The management of the second division soccer team was informed about this on Thursday evening, it said in a statement. “In a personal conversation with the management, Markus Anfang firmly rejected the allegations and emphatically assured him that he was fully vaccinated and that he had not used a forged vaccination certificate,” said the Werder announcement.
“Just like every other double-vaccinated citizen, I received my two vaccinations at an official vaccination center and received the appropriate sticker in the yellow vaccination certificate. I then had it digitized in the pharmacy and naturally assumed that everything was in order. I very much hope that the subject clears up quickly, “was quoted at the beginning of the communication.
Tennis, WTA: WTA boss Steve Simon has threatened the complete withdrawal of the women’s tennis tour from China if the leadership in Beijing fails to shed light on the missing player Peng Shuai. “We are definitely ready to end our activities, with all the consequences that entails,” said Simon on Thursday (local time) in a CNN interview. The allegations in relation to Peng are “bigger than business,” said the head of the WTA players’ organization. “Women must be respected and must not be censored,” demanded Simon.
China is now an important location, especially for women’s tennis. In 2018, the season-end tournament for the eight best players of the year from 2019 to 2028 was awarded to the Chinese city of Shenzhen and the prize money doubled from 7 million US dollars to 14 million. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, it was not possible to play in China in the past two years. In early November, Peng Shuai published allegations of sexual assault by a top Chinese politician on the Weibo social network. Since then, the 35-year-old has not been seen in public and is considered to have disappeared.
Handball, Champions League: The German record handball champion THW Kiel won the top game in the Champions League against last year’s finalist Aalborg Handbold. The team of THW coach Filip Jicha defeated the three-time Danish champion after a big fight with 31:28 (17:14). Kiel was already clearly leading in the second half with 28:22, before the Danes came up to one goal again. In the end, the Bundesliga club had better nerves. The best THW throwers were Hendrik Pekeler and Niclas Ekberg, each with seven goals.
After the first half of the season, Kiel remains second in Group A and has also increased its lead over pursuers Aalborg. The two best teams in each group of eight qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The teams in places three to six must go to the play-offs. There will be a second leg in Denmark next week.
Women’s football, Champions League: The two-time title holder VfL Wolfsburg is threatened with the qualifying round in the Football Champions League. The German cup winners lost their home game against Juventus Turin with 0: 2 (0: 0) on Thursday evening and were thus pushed from the important second place in the group A by the Italians. An own goal by Kathrin Hendrich in the 53rd minute and a counter goal by Andrea Staskova in stoppage time (90 + 3) decided the game in front of 1725 spectators.
The Wolfsburg women were superior, but far too harmless on the offensive. Just four days after their victory in the top Bundesliga game at Bayern Munich, they didn’t have a single clear scoring chance in 90 minutes. Only the first two teams in each group qualify for the quarter-finals. VfL are now two points behind Juventus in the last two preliminary round matches against the underdog Servette FC in Switzerland (December 8th) and against championship leaders FC Chelsea (December 16th).