Taiwan’s women’s tug-of-war team on Sunday finished fourth in the closed competition of the World Outdoor Championships in Spain, earning a berth at next year’s World Games. The 12-member team, which won the open club championship in the women’s under-540kg category on Friday last week, competed on Sunday against nine other teams for the closed competition title in the same weight category. In the competition, held by the Tug of War International Federation (TWIF), five teams, including fourth-placed Taiwan, qualified to compete in next year’s World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. Chinese Taipei Tug of War Association secretary-general Cho Yao-peng said that the team achieved its goal of gaining a place in next year’s Games in the US and performed as expected, if not better, taking into consideration the COVID-19 restrictions in Taiwan and the strength of the other nine teams that competed in the Basque Country. “Our athletes weren’t able to practice for two months,” he said, “It was difficult for them to get back their grip on the ropes.” Prior to the competition, Cho had said that while Taiwan had won two previous TWIF championships, the main goal this year was to qualify for next year’s World Games, rather than seeking a third consecutive win. In the preliminary round, Taiwan finished second with 22 points, behind Sweden with 27. During those matches, Taiwan won against the Czech Republic, South Africa, Israel, England, the Basque Country, Germany and the Netherlands, and they tied with Switzerland and lost to Sweden. In the finals, Taiwan lost to Switzerland, as well as to the Netherlands, finishing fourth. The other four teams that qualified for a berth at next year’s Games were Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands and the Basque Country.
Defending champion Filippo Ganna of Italy on Sunday shattered home fans’ hopes of a 1-2 for their riders and retained the men’s time trial title to secure back-to-back gold medals at the Road World Championships. On the opening day of the week-long event in Belgium, Ganna won with a small margin of just over 5 seconds to beat Wout van Aert for the second year running. Remco Evenepoel, another Belgian rider, claimed the bronze medal, 43.34 seconds behind Ganna. The flat course taking competitors through the cycling-mad Flanders region did not feature any technical difficulty and was perfectly suited to Ganna, a pure specialist of the race against the clock. As the defending champion, Ganna was the last down the starting ramp. The Italian rider was behind Van Aert at both intermediate checks on the 43.3km course between the seaside resort of Knokke-Heist and the picturesque city of Brugge, but produced a perfectly paced effort throughout to prevail. Ganna won in 47 minutes, 47.83 seconds at an impressive average speed of 54kph. “I think in one week, my condition [improved] really well. After the short camp at altitude, I did the European Championships, but the legs didn’t spin very well,” said Ganna, who finished runner-up behind Stefan Kung in the European Championships time trial earlier this month. “I didn’t know if I could arrive at the World Championships with good sensations and good shape, but today when I woke up, I had a good feeling in my legs and in my head I just dreamed to win again today,” he said. Olympic champion Primoz Roglic sat out the time trial, while Tokyo silver medalist Tom Dumoulin was absent due to a wrist injury.
Chelsea on Sunday powered to the top of the English Premier League with an impressive 3-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur, while David de Gea saved a stoppage-time penalty to preserve Manchester United’s 2-1 victory at West Ham United after Jesse Lingard returned to haunt his old club. On an emotional day in north London, Chelsea and Tottenham paid tribute to their former striker Jimmy Greaves, who died on Sunday aged 81. In a moving tribute, several former Spurs greats, including Greaves’ old teammate Martin Chivers, lined up on the touchline to join both teams and the 62,000 crowd in a minute’s applause. It was Chelsea who showed the predatory instincts that made Greaves Tottenham’s record scorer with 266 goals in 379 appearances between 1961 and 1970. Greaves started his career with a prolific spell at Chelsea and netted 44 times in 57 appearances for England, featuring in their 1966 World Cup-winning squad. He would have admired the ruthless way Chelsea killed off their London rivals. Thiago Silva put Chelsea ahead with a 49th-minute header, before N’Golo Kante netted with a long-range effort that deflected off Eric Dier eight minutes later. Kante’s first club goal since December 2019 was followed by Antonio Rudiger’s fine low finish in stoppage-time. Thomas Tuchel’s unbeaten side sit top of the league after winning four of their first five games, while Tottenham have suffered two successive top-flight defeats. Chelsea have only conceded one league goal so far this season, despite a tricky fixture list that featured trips to Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal. “I was absolutely not happy with the first 45 minutes,” Tuchel said. “I had the feeling we wanted to impress by pure skills. In derbies like this it is not always about just skills. It is about aggression and winning duels. We spoke clearly about it at halftime. In the second half it was
Lamar Jackson on Sunday rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns as the Baltimore Ravens edged Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs 36-35 in a clash of former NFL Most Valuable Players. Jackson overcame two first-quarter interceptions with a dynamic second-half performance to get the better of Mahomes for the first time in four games since 2018. The Ravens also rebounded from a frustrating season-opening loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Nevada on Monday last week. Jackson fumbled late in the game to give the Raiders the chance to snatch victory in overtime. Jackson on Sunday started the way he left off in the opener with a pair of first-half mistakes that led to interceptions, but he recovered and was able to improvise with a patchwork offense that is still trying to cope with the loss of three running backs to injuries. “My team had my back the whole time,” Jackson said. “It was a team effort. We lost the first week on Monday night, but everybody stayed focused. It was a hard game.” A late fumble by the Chiefs’ Clyde Edwards-Helaire enabled Jackson to seal the win with a fourth-down quarterback sneak for a first down which allowed them to run down the clock. “The coach asked me if we should we go for it. I said we got to go for it. I just wanted to put points on the board,” Jackson said. Jackson also threw for 239 yards, rallying Baltimore from an 11-point deficit. Mahomes passed for 343 yards and three touchdowns, but threw the first September interception of his career. Elsewhere, Tom Brady tossed five touchdown passes and Mike Edwards returned two fourth-quarter interceptions for scores as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 48-25. “I certainly wish I had made a few better throws, but it’s good to get the win,” Brady said. “There’s
UNWELCOME TREND: The French minister of sports called for a ‘reality check ... starting with supporters,’ after the season had been marred by fan-driven chaos
Racing Club de Lens on Saturday defeated reigning French champions Lille OSC 1-0 in a northern derby overshadowed by a pitch invasion that delayed the start of the second half by 30 minutes. Dozens of Lens supporters stormed the Stade Bollaert-Delelis pitch at halftime to confront the visiting Lille fans nestled away in a corner of the ground after tensions flared with other spectators. Riot police intervened to separate the factions of opposing supporters as both sets of fans hurled seats at each other over a partition wall. “We’re in the process of trying to get a clear view. It unfolded in some confusion. Of course, any act of violence is condemned by Lens,” club managing director Arnaud Pouille said. “Unfortunately the region’s image is affected by what happened.” “I have a precise idea of the facts, but I don’t want to influence anyone,” he added. “You’ve seen the images. There were some gestures that sparked things and a reaction, which is damaging.” Six people sustained minor injuries and police made two arrests, according to the Lens sub-prefect. The trouble comes the week after OGC Nice were docked a point following the ugly incidents that led to their Aug. 22 home match with Olympique de Marseille to be abandoned. That game is to be replayed at a neutral venue on Oct. 27. Nice were also ordered to play three matches behind closed doors. A clash between Montpellier and Marseille on the opening weekend of the season was also interrupted for about 10 minutes after fans threw bottles onto the pitch. “This start of the season is not going to help us. A reality check is quickly needed for everyone involved in football, starting with supporters,” French Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu wrote on Twitter. Poland midfielder Przemyslaw Frankowski scored the winning goal on 74 minutes, as Lens climbed to second
Minor league players in the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies farm systems on Saturday wore teal wristbands to protest pay that they say is insufficient. At least 10 players from the Brooklyn Cyclones and Jersey Shore BlueClaws wore the wristbands — which feature the hashtag #FairBall — during their High-A game in New York. The demonstration was organized in part by Advocates for Minor Leaguers, which also handed out the wristbands to fans and distributed pamphlets detailing the financial issues faced by players. “Minor League Baseball players have been severely underpaid and silenced for decades,” players from both teams said in a joint statement released by the advocacy group. “We love the game of baseball, but it needs to evolve. It is time for every minor leaguer to be paid a living wage,” it added. High-A players make a minimum of US$500 per week and are only paid during the six-month minor league season. Although some players receive signing bonuses worth hundreds of thousands — even millions — of dollars upon entering pro ball, many sign for as little as US$1,000. The financial burden has prompted players to sleep on sofas, air mattresses or floors in overcrowded apartments, play with tattered equipment, and seek charity from fans and more fortunate teammates. “The players who donned wristbands in Brooklyn today will make less than $12,000 this year,” the statement said. “The MLB teams they play for are worth well more than US$2 billion. There is absolutely no excuse for this.” The group said it had volunteers handing out wristbands and pamphlets to fans outside minor league stadiums in Georgia, Iowa, Nebraska and California, along with Brooklyn, which had the only on-field player protest with the wristbands. The pamphlets say that MLB teams extend pay to players during the offseason and provide players with housing and three meals per day during
Gary Sanchez on Saturday failed to catch a foul popup that led to a seven-run fifth inning capped by Andres Gimenez’s three-run homer, as home runs from Taiwan’s Yu Chang and Franmil Reyes led the Cleveland Indians to rout the Yankees 11-3, which dropped New York out of a playoff position. “Definitely a play there that I’m used to making, especially this year. I thought I’ve been very good catching those flies,” Sanchez said through a translator. “I think this is the first one I missed this year, but just a bad read there with the fly ball.” Reyes hit an RBI double off Albert Abreu in the big fifth inning and a two-run homer in the sixth against Andrew Heaney. Chang put the Indians ahead with a second-inning homer off Luis Gil (1-1) and added a two-run double in the fifth against Abreu. Jose Ramirez hit his 34th homer in the eighth against Heaney. New York has 13 games left and fell a half-game behind the Toronto Raptors for the second American League wild card. The Yankees dropped 1-1/2 games behind the wild card-leading Boston Red Sox. A day after the Yankees won the series opener 8-0, they fell behind 10-0 by the sixth inning on Don Mattingly Bobblehead Day. The former Yankees captain was a six-time All-Star, but missed the playoffs in all but one of his 14 big league seasons. Sanchez failed to tag out the Mets’ Jonathan Villar last weekend when Joey Gallo’s throw reached the plate 20 feet ahead of him, then was criticized by manager Aaron Boone after failing to prevent two costly wild pitches in Thursday’s 3-2, 10-inning loss in Baltimore. Sanchez overran a foul pop behind the plate by Oscar Mercado in the fifth inning, misreading the backspin as the ball fell on the dirt behind the plate. He was
Jim Knous and Maverick McNealy both birdied their final holes of the third round to top a crowded leaderboard at the Fortinet Championship, the first PGA Tour event of the new season, while Taiwan’s C.T. Pan was just four shots off the leaders. McNealy caught fire on the back nine, closing his round of 70 with three consecutive birdies for a 14-under 202 total to maintain a share of the lead on the Silverado Resort and Spa course. Neither McNealy nor Knous would sleep easy heading into yesterday’s final round, as there were 18 players within four shots of the lead, including Pan, six-time major winner Phil Mickelson and 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson. Pan, who was tied for ninth with a 10-under-par 206, shot a clean round with five birdies on holes five, six, 12, 15 and 16, for a five-under-par 67. It was a welcome follow-up to the four birdies he landed in the second round on Friday for a four-under 68. In the past two rounds, Pan managed to make up major ground after a one-under 71 in the first round, where his five birdies on holes five, seven, 10, 14 and 16 were marred by bogeys on two and 12, and a wrenching double-bogey on the ninth hole. “It was a crazy day,” second-round leader McNealy said of Saturday’s play. “One of those days where the ball was running up in funny spots.” “It was pretty hectic, and then on the 12th everything seemed to slow down for me, and I am really proud of the way I finished,” he added. In Oregon, Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-chia, Hsu Wei-ling and Min Lee were forced to take a day off from the Portland Classic, after an overnight downpour forced play to be canceled. The LPGA said in a statement that course conditions found in the morning,
Belarusian Daniil Ostapenkov, a teenager who had not played a professional-level match before, on Saturday stunned world No. 15 Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 6-3 in their World Group I Davis Cup match against Argentina. The 18-year-old became the latest young gun to cause an upset following a US Open where teenagers seized the spotlight and 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. Ostapenkov fired down three aces and saved seven break points to defeat Schwartzman on his home turf at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, although Guido Pella leveled the tie at 1-1 with a convincing win over Erik Arutiunian. Slovakia completed a 3-1 victory over Chile, with Norbert Gombos thrashing world No. 17 Cristian Garin 6-0, 6-1 for his second win of the tie in Bratislava. The Slovaks must wait to see whether they are automatically into the February qualifiers to reach next year’s finals. Norway were also triumphant with Casper Ruud’s 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sanjar Fayziev, handing them a 3-1 lead and keeping alive their hopes of reaching the finals. The eight highest ranked winners from the World Group I ties would go into the Davis Cup qualifiers in February, when they would attempt to qualify for the finals.
CYCLING Former pro dies in crash Former pro cyclist Chris Anker Sorensen was on Saturday killed in a road accident on the sidelines of the world championships in Belgium, local media reported, citing Denmark’s TV2 Sport. The 37-year-old, who won a stage of the Giro d’Italia in 2010, was in Belgium to report on the tournament which was to start yesterday. Belgian broadcaster Sporza said that Sorensen was out cycling when he was involved in a collision with a vehicle. In his riding career, Sorensen competed for the CSC, Saxo Bank and Tinkoff teams. As well as winning the eighth stage of the 2010 Giro, he captured the sixth stage of the 2008 Criterium du Dauphine and was Danish national champion in 2015. BASEBALL MLB suspends Mike Wright The MLB on Saturday slapped Chicago White Sox pitcher Mike Wright with a three-game suspension for “intentionally” throwing at Japan’s Shohei Ohtani a few nights prior. White Sox manager Tony La Russa was also hit with a one-game ban for arguing Wright’s ejection. Wright was thrown out of the contest on Thursday with two out in the ninth inning of a 9-3 White Sox loss for hitting the Los Angeles Angels two-way star in the calf with a fastball. Ohtani was not seriously hurt and was awarded a walk by the umpire. Ohtani, who has been battling a sore arm and some hitting woes, was expected to return to the pitching mound yesterday against the Oakland A’s. HOCKEY Chara returns to Islanders Zdeno Chara is returning to the team where he started his career, agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with the New York Islanders, the team said on Saturday. The contract is the latest in a series of moves by seasoned general manager Lou Lamoriello designed to get the Islanders over the hump in the playoffs. Chara was
NO EXCUSES: South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber said that it was the Springboks’ worst game in three years as they fell 10 points behind New Zealand on the table
The Wallabies yesterday swept to back-to-back wins against South Africa with a convincing 30-17 win in Brisbane. Center Len Ikitau and wing Marika Koroibete scored two tries apiece in the bonus-point win as the Wallabies regained the Nelson Mandela Plate. The victory came a week after the Wallabies stunned the Springboks 28-26 on the Gold Coast when Quade Cooper kicked a penalty after the fulltime siren. However, there was no need for any last-minute heroics six days later after Koroibete’s second try 10 minutes from time gave the Wallabies a crucial 13-point lead that the Springboks never threatened. Australia coach Dave Rennie said that yesterday’s performance had pleased him more than last week’s game. “We wanted to back up last week’s performance with another strong performance and I thought we backed up well,” Rennie said. “We defended well — I thought we were clinical. Against New Zealand we created lots of opportunities, but turned the ball over and got punished. Tonight we were good enough to take those opportunities.” South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber offered no excuses and said it was the Springboks’ worst performance since a 32-19 loss against Argentina in 2018. “It was not a performance that was worthy enough for a Springbok jersey,” he said. “We were truly beaten. In every department we got hands down beaten — defense, kicking game, attack. We just made too many errors.” South Africa had promised to come back strongly after last week’s loss, but they were on the back foot from the beginning when scrumhalf Faf de Klerk was shown a yellow card in the 12th minute for an infringement in front of the posts. Instead of opting for an easy penalty, the Wallabies kicked for the corner and the gamble paid off when they won quick line-out ball and outside center Ikitau broke through the tackle of Handre
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp on Friday scored 87 seconds into his Hertha BSC debut in a 2-1 Bundesliga win over promoted SpVgg Greuther Furth. The 21-year-old Dutch midfielder, who joined Hertha from Ajax on the last day of the summer transfer window, scored with a header from a corner in the 61st minute. He was involved again as an own-goal from Furth’s Maximilian Bauer in the 79th minute proved to be the winner for Hertha. “It feels great,” Ekkelenkamp said. “I’m a little bit not happy on the bench, not really, but I’m happy to come in and score... I want to fight for the team and be important with goals.” It was Hertha’s second straight win — both against promoted teams — after starting the league with three defeats. However, it was anything but easy as Hertha lost captain Dedryck Boyata and French forward Myziane Maolida to injuries. Coach Pal Dardai was also booked toward the end of the game for an angry outburst at the referee. Hertha’s sporting director Arne Friedrich had to hold Dardai back. “I’ve apologized already,” Dardai said. “I was a tick too aggressive.” Hertha’s fans had started the game in buoyant mood after last week’s 3-1 win over VfL Bochum, but the first half failed to live up to their expectations. Suat Serdar provided a rare highlight when he surged through the middle and shot narrowly wide in the 18th minute. There were whistles from some Hertha fans at the break. Branimir Hrgota held his nerve to break the deadlock from the penalty spot in the 57th minute but Dardai brought on Ekkelenkamp in response and the Dutch midfielder needed little time to score. Marton Dardai, the coach’s son, delivered the corner. Ekkelenkamp was involved again as he tried to reach Marco Richter’s cross, forcing Bauer into the own-goal. “An excellent player,” Dardai said of Ekkelenkamp. “I already said he was
Newcastle United manager Steve Bruce on Friday was adamant that his side would claw their way out of the Premier League relegation zone after a 1-1 home draw against Leeds United left them still looking for their first win of the season. The result left Newcastle 18th on two points from five games and Bruce endured a chorus of disgruntled home fans calling for the club to sack him after they fell behind to a 13th-minute goal from Raphinha. Bruce praised the home crowd for willing their team on to salvage a point against dominant Leeds and said coming under pressure after a poor start was part and parcel of the game. “I can understand frustrations, I get that,” Bruce told Sky Sports. “The atmosphere they created makes the spectacle. They are unique and the way they got behind the team was the most important thing and I’m very pleased about that.” “You have to accept that when you don’t win a game you come under pressure,” he said. “How you handle it, keep your dignity, do what you think is best and stick with it.” Newcastle were fortunate not to fall further behind in a action-packed first half before Allan Saint-Maximin equalized in the 44th minute with a fine solo effort. Bruce was delighted with his team’s response and said that he actually enjoyed the enthralling encounter, which reminded him of schoolboy games with rivals throwing caution to the wind. “If I’m being honest, I enjoyed the game, and let’s be honest, it could have gone either way,” he said. “It was like when you play at school, it was end-to-end and to be fair to Leeds they force you into that way.”
US Open champion Emma Raducanu’s grandmother Niculina Raducanu wanted her to quit tennis because of concern about the teen’s health after breathing difficulties forced her to retire from Wimbledon this year. The 88-year-old Romanian told the Daily Mail that her granddaughter’s “health is more important” than wealth or fame. Fortunately for the 18-year-old Briton, neither her father, Ian Raducanu — Niculina Raducanu’s son — nor her Chinese mother, Renee Raducanu, took the advice and she swept through the US Open to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. Niculina Raducanu — known to Emma as “Mamiya,” a Romanian term of endearment for grandmothers — is close to her granddaughter. She would host Emma Raducanu twice a year in Bucharest in her apartment and she would travel to the family’s home in England to care for her granddaughter and recount stories about Romania. However, she was so anxious for her granddaughter after she retired from her clash with Australian Ajla Tomljanovic at Wimbledon that she broached the subject of retirement with Emma Raducanu’s parents. “I asked her parents if she should quit tennis,” Niculina Raducanu told the newspaper at her Bucharest home. “Because what if something should happen to Emma? Her health is more important” than wealth or fame. “The court she played on that day had a roof over it because it was raining, and she felt she couldn’t breathe,” she said. However, when it came to the US Open final, it was the grandmother not the granddaughter who faltered. “The night she won the US Open [beating Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-4, 6-3], I couldn’t watch because my heart couldn’t take it,” she said. “I said to myself: ‘This match is going to be a really tough one,’ so I decided not to watch it.” “I only found out the news the next day, and I
‘COOLEST’ MOMENT: The pinch-hitting pitcher launched a flyball to shallow right field, allowing Brandon Crawford beat the throw with a head-first slide for the win
Kevin Gausman heard the boos on Friday when he stepped into the batter’s box for the San Francisco Giants, realizing right away that the fans had no idea his team were down to their last options with no position players left in their game against the Atlanta Braves. So the pinch-hitting pitcher stood in and delivered, lofting a full-count, bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 11th inning that sent the Giants past the Braves 6-5 to increase their lead in the National League West. “Oh man, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my entire career,” Gausman said. “When it was 3-2 and everybody stood up, it was probably one of the coolest moments of my life... Just crazy.” The Giants, saved when Donovan Solano came off the COVID-19 injured list and connected for a tying, pinch-hit home run with two outs in the ninth, moved two games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division race. Atlanta had their NL East lead trimmed to two games over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants had only pitchers left on the bench when Gausman, with a 0.184 average this season, hit for reliever Camilo Doval, who had never batted in his professional career. “More than anything I was trying to not look ridiculous, just take good swings, swing at strikes,” a giddy Gausman said. “Obviously I never would have thought I would have got in that situation coming to the ballpark today.” Hardly ridiculous. Not even close. Braves manager Brian Snitker got caught off guard by it. “I honestly thought he’d probably take that 3-2 pitch so he didn’t expand the strike zone and maybe swing at one over his head or something,” Snitker said. Instead, Gausman hit a flyball to shallow right field and Brandon Crawford beat the throw home with a head-first slide. Gausman’s teammates chest bumped him and
A.J. Allmendinger slid sideways across the Bristol Motor Speedway finish line to edge rival Austin Cindric for the win on Friday and the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season championship. The race was Cindric’s to win and the reigning Xfinity champion was four laps away from a second-straight regular-season title and a healthy lead for the start of the playoffs. Instead, a late caution gave Allmendinger a shot to steal a sixth win from Cindric and continue his own fairytale season. The rivals crashed into each other as the cars crossed the finish line and Allmendinger’s fourth win of the season was awarded because his Chevrolet was sliding ahead of Cindric’s under the checkered flag. The wreck was a wild way to send the Xfinity Series into the playoffs. “It’s frustrating to get hit that hard coming to the checkered, but we are battling for the win and it’s Bristol baby, this is what it’s all about,” Allmendinger said to a roaring crowd. “I haven’t had a lot of chances in my life to win at Bristol, so you get a chance to go do it, you do it.” “If I don’t take that chance, I don’t belong in that racecar because my team deserves to win,” he said. Allmendinger earned a shot at the win when Justin Allgaier spun Sam Mayer with four laps remaining in regulation. Allmendinger and Cindric were side-by-side on the restart for a frenzied two laps around the 858m concrete bullring in which Cindric, Allemdinger and Allgaier traded the lead and bounced off one another multiple times. Allmendinger finally surged to the lead only to be caught by Cindric, again, as the two banged doors hurtling toward the checkered flag. Both cars began to spin and were sideways as Allmendinger stole the victory. They continued to crash after the finish. The win gave Allemendinger the regular-season title over
Pele on Friday was briefly transferred back to an intensive care unit (ICU) after breathing difficulties, but was reported to be stable, said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, where he underwent surgery earlier this month. The transfer was a temporary “preventative measure,” the hospital said in a statement, adding that the 80-year-old was later transferred to “semi-intensive care” as he continues to recover from surgery for a suspected colon tumor. “He is currently stable from a cardiovascular and respiratory point of view,” the hospital said. Shortly afterward, Pele posted a message on social media, writing: “Friends, I am still recovering very well. Today I received visits from family and I am still smiling every day.” Pele’s daughter Kely Nascimento also posted a photograph of herself next to her father in the hospital, seeking to cheer up his fans. “This is the normal recovery scenario for a man his age. After an operation like this, sometimes you take two steps forward, one step back,” Nascimento wrote on Instagram next to the photo. “Yesterday he was tired and he took a step back. Today, he has taken two steps forward.” In the photo, Pele is seen on what looks like a hospital bed in a black puff vest or jacket, alert and smiling. “He is recovering well, under normal conditions, I promise!” Nascimento wrote. “There is a lot of angst in the world these days and we don’t want to add to it.” On Sept. 6, the hospital said that Pele had undergone surgery for a suspected colon tumor. He originally left the ICU unit on Tuesday, telling his fans on social media that he was feeling happier by the day and was looking forward to reuniting with them. The suspected tumor was detected during routine tests, said the hospital, where Pele has been undergoing treatment since Aug. 31. Considered by
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) officials yesterday threw a veil of secrecy over the security threat that forced the abrupt cancelation of their tour of Pakistan. Pakistani Minister of the Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that the team feared an attack outside the stadium. The cancelation is a huge setback for Pakistan, which has been trying to revive tours by foreign sides after home internationals were suspended in the aftermath of a terror attack on the Sri Lanka side in 2009. The announcement on Friday that the series had been called off came just as the first one-day international was due to start at the Rawalpindi Stadium, 10km from the team hotel in Islamabad. In a brief public statement, Ardern said that the New Zealand government supported the cancelation, as “player safety has to be paramount.” The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been in contact with New Zealand Cricket, said that there was an “ongoing and significant threat from terrorism throughout Pakistan,” but would not comment on specific security concerns. “New Zealand Cricket makes its own security decisions and has its own security arrangements in place for all international tours,” a spokesman from the New Zealand ministry said. When NZC first announced that it was abandoning the Pakistan tour, it said the decision followed “a New Zealand government security alert” and advice from its own security advisers. The side previously cut short a tour in 2002 after a suicide bombing outside their team hotel in Karachi killed 14 people, including 11 French naval engineers. A NZC official told reporters no further comment was planned “at this juncture” and would not say if the security threat that caused the cancelation had been passed to the Pakistan Cricket Board or any other cricket-playing nation. The England and
SECURITY ALERT: Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed his disappointment, while former bowler Shoaib Akhtar wrote on Twitter: ‘NZ just killed Pakistan cricket’
New Zealand yesterday abandoned their cricket tour of Pakistan over security concerns that mystified the hosts, just before the Black Caps’ first scheduled match in Pakistan in 18 years. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said it received a security alert from the New Zealand government and made the decision to cancel the tour just moments before the scheduled start of the one-day international series in Rawalpindi. Both teams stayed at their hotel. “Following an escalation in the New Zealand government threat levels for Pakistan, and advice from NZC security advisers on the ground, it has been decided the Black Caps will not continue with the tour,” NZC said on its Web site. “Arrangements are now being made for the team’s departure.” NZC declined to comment on the nature of the security threat. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke personally to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and informed her “we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world and that no security threat of any kind exists for the visiting team.” New Zealand were to play three one-day internationals in Rawalpindi and five Twenty20s in Lahore. Both cities and the security arrangements were cleared by NZC’s security team last month. NZC chief executive David White said the advice he received made the tour impossible to continue and he was supported by the New Zealand Cricket Players Association. “I understand this will be a blow for the PCB, who have been wonderful hosts, but player safety is paramount and we believe this is the only responsible option,” White said. The PCB said that it tried its best to convince the Black Caps, but “cricket lovers in Pakistan and around the world will be disappointed by this last minute withdrawal.” Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed his disappointment at the cancelation, while former Pakistan fast
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