■ GOLF
Players enter Hall of Fame
Curtis Strange won consecutive US Open titles and Hubert Green major victories in the US Open and US PGA Championship. On Monday they were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. Inducted with them was Pak Se-ri, at 30 the youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Beyond her five majors and 24 career victories on the US LPGA Tour, Pak became a pioneer for young players from South Korea. Kel Nagle of Australia, whose 76 victories around the world included the 1960 British Open at St. Andrews, was elected through the veteran's category. Inducted posthumously were golf course architect Charles Blair Macdonald and three-time British Amateur champion Joe Carr, both through the lifetime achievement category.
■ Rugby Union
It's D-Day for Henry
New Zealand rugby officials will put the World Cup performance of All Black coach Graham Henry under the microscope today following the team's shock quarter-final exit from the World Cup. The New Zealand Rugby Union said its rugby committee would meet to conduct performance reviews of Henry and his assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. The committee will report tomorrow to the NZRU board, which will decide on the next step in appointing a coach. All Black coaches have traditionally paid the price for failure at the World Cup, although there was considerable public support for Henry to keep his job immediately after the All Blacks loss to France last month. Canterbury Crusaders coach Robbie Deans is the favorite to take over from Henry after announcing he is keen to coach the All Blacks.
■ Tennis
Hawk-Eye use increased
Players will have more chances to challenge line-calls using video replays at January's Australian Open in Melbourne, a move organizers hope will help tennis create a more consistent policy regarding Hawk-Eye technology. Next year's Australian Open will adopt a "three-plus-one challenge system" for Hawk-Eye, tournament director Craig Tiley said yesterday. "That means players get three incorrect challenges during a set and a fourth challenge if it goes into a tiebreaker," Tiley said. This year's tournament had a two-plus-one system "Under the new system it will be highly unlikely that players run out of challenges," Tiley said. Australian Open organizers will extend the use of Hawk-Eye to Vodafone Arena for next year's tournament, in addition to the main Rod Laver Arena.
■ Swimming
BOC wants investigation
The Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) requested a criminal investigation on the doping tests taken by swimmer Rebeca Gusmao during the Pan American Games in July. In a petition sent to Rio de Janeiro's Public Safety Department on Monday, BOC president Carlos Arthur Nuzman requested "an investigation into eventual crimes" on the procedures involving Gusmao's tests. Gusmao, a double gold medalist at the Pan Ams, was temporarily suspended last week by FINA for testing positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition test on July 13. Then the Brazilian swimming confederation said there was evidence Gusmao's urine samples during the games were altered. The laboratory that conducted the tests said the samples they received appeared to belong to different donors.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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