Global Sport

8220;The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation CBF can8217;t keep on talking nonsense. He has to work for the benefit of sport,8221; said Pele, who last week said he wanted no part of the Brazil bid.

8220;If we had a project that was transparent and everything was being done in the open, then that would be okay. But we don8217;t have any of this,8221; he added.

8220;Brazil has got no good stadium, any pitch, which is apt to stage a World Cup match or meet the conditions set down by FIFA,8221; added Pele, who was speaking at the training ground of Santos, the club where he spent 17 years of his illustrious career.

8220;It8217;s time to stop deceiving the people.8221;

North Korea football coach defects to South Korea

SEOUL: A former head coach of the North Korean National football team has defected to South Korea after escaping the famine-striken state in 1998, intelligence officials said today.

Yun Myong-Chan, 50, who served as North Korea8217;s head coach between 1990 and 1994, had arrived and sought asylum in South Korea last April.

8220;He is still under investigation,8221; the official said, giving no further details.

Yun is the first known North Korean sports official to defect to South Korea. He was a member of the North Korea team which competed in the 1973 Asian preliminary rounds for the World Cup.

Hong Kong to bid for 2006 Asian Games

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will launch a bid to host the 2006 Asian Games, Chinese official media has reported.

The head of the Hong Kong Sports Federation and Olympic Committee Timothy Fok Tsun-Ting, said the former British colony would attempt to stage the Games after South Korea hosts the event in 2002, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

8220;Our goal is to bid for the Asian Games,8221; Fok was quoted by the news agency as saying.

The agency also quoted the Hong Kong Olympic Committee8217;s secretary general Pang Chung as saying the territory would seek to host the 2010 Games if its 2006 bid was unsuccessful.

Republic team faces exclusion over visa

PARIS: The Republic of Ireland may lose their European Championship qualifier with Yugoslavia by forfeit and even risk exclusion from the tournament.

The Irish government earlier Wednesday refused to grant entry visas to members of the Yugoslav football team scheduled to play a European Championship qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

8220;If there are no visas there will be no match and if there is no match Ireland will lose by forfeit,8221; a UEFA source told AFP on Wednesday.

8220;Then it will be up to disciplinary commission to take a decision on Ireland. Without having had time to think about it one decision could be taken: exclusion purely and simply.8221;

Ronaldo misses double Dutch date

RIO DE JANEIRO: Inter Milan8217;s Brazilian international striker Ronaldo has said he would not play in the National team8217;s two games with Holland.

Ronaldo, who has a muscle problem in the right thigh, will miss both games with the Dutch 8212; the first clash is on Saturday at Salvador and the second on Tuesday in Goiania.

The gap-toothed goalscorer said: 8220;I am not preoccupied by this strain but I think it is preferable that I do not play against Holland so I can be 100 per cent for the Copa America.8221;

Ronado will stay with the squad during the two matches, however.

National team boss Wanderley Luxemburg said: 8220;It8217;s not worth taking useless risks. Ronaldo will undergo physiotherapy in Rio to be ready for the Copa America.8221;