SOCCER
NZ tickets boost sought
FIFA Women’s World Cup cohosts New Zealand needs to lift ticket sales in coming weeks given the relatively modest “selling power” of the national Football Ferns team, FIFA chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman told a New Zealand Herald podcast released yesterday. Bareman said that she had less concerns about cohosts Australia, with a record crowd of more than 40,000 expected for the Matildas’ World Cup warm-up match against France in Melbourne on July 14. “I have to say my focus is a little bit more on New Zealand as we don’t have the luxury of the Matildas here,” Bareman said. “In Australia, they are the darlings of the country. Sam Kerr is an absolute superstar and the whole country is in love with football because of the Matildas. There’s that selling power that the Matildas have that we don’t quite have here yet in New Zealand with the Football Ferns. So there’s a bit more of a lift to do in the coming weeks.” More than 1 million tickets have been sold for the July 20 to Aug. 20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, putting the tournament on track to become the most attended, stand-alone women’s sporting event ever. New Zealand, which is hosting 29 of the 64 matches, had sold nearly 250,000 tickets, local organizers said last week.
RUGBY UNION
Whitelock set to return
All Blacks lock Sam Whitelock is expected to return from injury to play his 178th and last game for the Canterbury Crusaders in tomorrow’s Super Rugby Pacific final against the Waikato Chiefs. Whitelock missed the playoff matches against the Fijian Drua and the Auckland Blues with an Achilles tendon injury and New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said he doubted the No. 5 would recover in time to play in the title decider. However, Whitelock has made a massive effort to play one last match for the Christchurch-based team before he leaves to join French club Pau. Scrumhalf Mitchell Drummond said the news Whitelock would be fit for the final was a “massive” boost for the team. “He’s obviously a legend of our club and a legend of New Zealand rugby,” Drummond said. “I know he’s worked extremely hard over the last couple of weeks and [had] his fingers crossed hoping that we’d get to the final.”
RUGBY UNION
Japan to host England
Japan are to host England in a Test match for the first time in June next year, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) said in a statement yesterday. England toured Japan in 1971 and 1979, but those matches did not hold Test status. The teams have since met at the 1987 World Cup in Sydney, as well as at Twickenham in 2018 and last year, with England victorious on all three occasions. “This is a landmark occasion for our two rugby nations,” RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said. “We have a lot of respect for Japanese rugby and I know there will be mutual excitement between fans from both countries for this fixture.” The teams, who did not play each other when Japan hosted the World Cup in 2019, are to meet in the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup on June 22 next year. The venue and kick-off time have yet to be confirmed. “We look forward to welcoming the team and English fans back to Japan and renewing the great rugby connection between our two nations,” JRFU president Masato Tsuchida said.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946