CYCLING
Bernal in hospital after crash
Former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal was “conscious” and “stable” in hospital following a training accident with a bus in his native Colombia, his cycling team Ineos Grenadiers said on Monday. Pictures shared on social media showed the 25-year-old Giro d’Italia champion lying on the ground surrounded by teammates. The back of a bus with a huge dent in it is visible in the picture. The 2019 Tour winner had “multiple lacerations” and was receiving treatment in a clinic, the local transport police said, adding that he rode into the back of the vehicle as it pulled up at a bus stop. The accident happened in the town of Gachancipa, about 30km from the capital, Bogota. The Sabana University Clinic, where he was being treated, said that he had undergone an operation for a fractured femur, patella and chest trauma.
CRICKET
Zimbabwe’s Taylor extorted
Former Zimbabwe cricket captain Brendan Taylor on Monday said that he had taken money from match-fixers who tried to blackmail him into manipulating international games with a secret video of him using cocaine on a visit to India in 2019. Taylor said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was about to impose a “multi-year ban” on him. Even though he took US$15,000 from the fixers, Taylor said he never fixed or manipulated games. The 35-year-old batsman retired from international cricket late last year. Taylor said he was invited to India to discuss what he was told was a sponsorship opportunity in October 2019. At a dinner with businessmen, he was offered cocaine and “foolishly took the bait,” he said. “The following morning, the same men entered my hotel room to show me a video taken of me the night before doing cocaine and told me that if I did not partake in spot fixing at international matches, the video would be released to the public,” Taylor said.
SOCCER
Watford sacks Ranieri
Watford manager Claudio Ranieri was on Monday sacked after only 14 games in charge of the English Premier League strugglers. Ranieri was hired in October last year to replace Xisco Munoz, but the 70-year-old Italian was unable to improve Watford’s fortunes, with the Hornets taking just seven points during his brief reign. Watford are second bottom of the table, two points from safety, after losing seven of their last eight league games. “With nearly half of the Premier League campaign remaining, a change in the Head Coach position now will give a new appointment sufficient time to work with a talented squad to achieve the immediate goal of retaining Premier League status,” the club said in a statement.
BOXING
Joshua denies ￡15m deal
Anthony Joshua on Monday said “I’m in control of my own destiny,” as he insisted reports he had agreed a ￡15 million (US$20.24 million) deal to step aside from his world heavyweight title rematch with Oleksandr Usyk were false. Several stories in the British media said that Joshua was willing to allow Usyk to fight Tyson Fury in a unification title bout. Joshua, speaking in a Talksport online video posted on Twitter, said: “You know what’s mad about all these interviews I see? I see certain interviews that quote what I said and I think to myself, ‘I haven’t done no interviews.’”
Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) yesterday beat Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in their women’s singles semi-final match to advance to today’s final at the Thailand Open. The top-seeded Tai overcame a 10-21 first-game loss to seventh seed and former world champion Ratchanok to dominate the final two games 21-13, 21-19 in 58 minutes of play at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. World No. 2 Tai is today to face world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China. Chen yesterday bested Pusarla Venkata Sindhu 21-17, 21-16 to secure her spot in the final of the Super 500 tournament. On Friday, Tai overpowered China’s He Bingjiao 21-10,
Wimbledon, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament, was on Friday stripped of ranking points by the sport’s main tours in a move that threatens to reduce the Grand Slam to the status of a high-profile exhibition event. The decision by the ATP and WTA was in response to Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine. “It is with great regret and reluctance that we see no option but to remove ATP Ranking points from Wimbledon for 2022,” an ATP statement said. “Our rules and agreements exist in order to protect the rights of players as a
Defending champions Taichung Blue Whale thrashed Taoyuan Mars 6-0 in Taiwanese women’s soccer over the weekend, while Hualien City rolled on with their fourth win to sit atop the league table. While Thai fullback Pitsamai Sornsai partnered with compatriot goalkeeper Nattaruja Muthtanawech on defense, Japanese midfielder Maho Tanaka opened the scoring for Blue Whale in Saturday’s match, kicking a screamer on a volley from outside the penalty box — her first goal of the season. The match remained 1-0 heading into the break, although Taoyuan Mars striker Ho Chia-huan, a student at Hsing Wu High School in New Taipei City, had good
Faced with a machete, a fighter leaps and locks his legs around another man’s neck, bringing him crashing down to a cacophony of cheers. This is vovinam, Vietnam’s acrobatic martial art with roots dating back to the country’s struggle for independence, and it is showing at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the first time since 2013. Proponents are trained to use not only their hands and legs to grapple a rival to the ground, but also fend off assailants armed with blades. Short for “Vo Viet Nam” (literally “Vietnamese martial arts”) it was inspired by nationalists who sought an end to the
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