Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan was one of a dozen tennis players who were handed wildcards into the Olympics on Monday.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Kevin Anderson of South Africa, both surprise winners on the tour this year, also received wildcards.
Defending Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile has been successful in his campaign to take part in the tournament despite his world ranking having slumped to 93.
Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman, 35, who will retire at the end of the year, Belarus’ Max Mirnyi and China’s Peng Sun were also handed wildcards.
Chan, Taiwan’s top-ranked singles player, was eliminated by Dinara Safina of Russia in the first round at Wimbledon this year.
Japanese teenager Nishikori won the title in Delray Beach, while Anderson was the Las Vegas winner.
In the women’s singles, invitations also went to Alicia Molik of Australia, Maria Koryttseva of Ukraine, Japan’s Ayumi Morita, Nuria Llagostera-Vives of Spain and Tunisia’s Selima Sfar.
“Each of the players who have been awarded an ITF [International Tennis Federation] Place brings special qualities to the field for the 2008 Olympic Tennis Event,” ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said.
“Some of the players are young competitors from under-represented parts of the world while others are former medallists or long-standing participants in their country’s Davis Cup and Fed Cup efforts,” Bitti said.
Molik was thrilled by her inclusion in the field.
“This is probably the best news I’ve had since 2004,” Molik said. “I have played in two Olympics and I have to say they’re the absolute highlight of my career. Nothing comes close to playing in the Olympics, representing your country. It is the most amazing experience any individual can have. It was always a childhood dream of mine.”
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
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
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
RSS