SOCCER
Thailand boss resigns
The president of Thailand’s soccer association yesterday announced his resignation following political pressure over brawling between the kingdom’s national team and Indonesia during the men’s final at the Southeast Asian Games. Indonesia defeated Thailand 5-2 in the final last month that saw players and coaches on both sides clash on two occasions with four red cards issued. The Thailand Football Association later apologized and handed out lengthy bans to two players, two officials and a coach. In a statement on Facebook, association president Somyot Poompanmoung said that Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who heads the country’s national Olympic committee, had ordered him to stand down as president at a meeting on Friday. “As President of the Football Association of Thailand ... I am ready to follow the order of General Prawit,” Somyot said.
SOCCER
Cardiff ordered to pay
FIFA has ordered Cardiff City to pay French club Nantes the remaining installments for the transfer fee of Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash in 2019 before he could join the Welsh team. Sala died when the light aircraft he was traveling in from France crashed into the English Channel in January 2019, two days after Cardiff had announced the signing of the 28-year-old Argentine forward from Nantes. Cardiff had already been ordered by FIFA to pay the first installment of the ￡15 million (US$19 million) transfer fee, a decision that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in August last year. Soccer’s world governing body on Friday ordered Cardiff to pay the last two installments as well.
ICE HOCKEY
Women’s league planned
Organizers on Friday announced plans to launch a new women’s professional ice hockey league in January next year that they hope would provide a stable, economically sustainable home for the sport’s top players. The North American league is expected to start with six teams — three in the US and three in Canada — a person with knowledge of the league’s plans said. “I don’t think there’s a more significant moment for the game since women’s ice hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998,” Professional Hockey Federation commissioner Reagan Carey said. “I think it will forever change the landscape of our sport — and certainly for the better.”
TENNIS
WTA eyes Saudi Arabia
Women’s tennis is looking into the possibility of getting into business with Saudi Arabia. WTA chairman and CEO Steve Simon on Friday said that he visited that country with players in February as part of the evaluation process. “It’s a very difficult and very challenging topic that’s being, obviously, measured by many, many different groups right now,” Simon said at an event in London to mark the 50th anniversary of the meeting that led to the founding of the WTA. He said that there “are still tons of issues in Saudi Arabia” with regard to women’s rights, but added: “The Saudis are talking to a lot of people and a lot of different sports right now. I think everybody’s evaluating what this means and: How do you move forward with that?”
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
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
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
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