■ 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.
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
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