OLYMPICS
N Korean flag draws fine
International sport’s anti-doping watchdog on Friday said that it has fined the Olympic Council of Asia US$500,000 for allowing North Korea to fly its flag at the Asian Games, despite a ban for non-compliance. The Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned North Korea from hosting major international events or flying its flag at such events, excluding the Olympics and Paralympics, in 2021 because it had not implemented an effective drug-testing program. However, WADA said the North Korean flag was displayed throughout the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September and last month. “Despite reminders from WADA before and during the Games, the OCA refused to comply,” WADA said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from the OCA, which has three weeks to contest WADA’s decision.
RUGBY UNION
Australian boss criticized
Six state unions have demanded the immediate resignation of Rugby Australia (RA) chairman Hamish McLennan in the wake of the failed tenure of former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones. An open letter signed by six of the eight union chairs called for an extraordinary general meeting of the RA board to oust McLennan if he ignores their call to stand down, saying they have lost “trust or faith in his leadership.” The ultimatum comes in the wake of a miserable year for the Wallabies under Jones in which they won just two of nine Tests and failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. McLennan was a key driver in the January decision to replace former coach Dave Rennie with Jones, whose tumultuous tenure ended last month. McLennan was “acting outside his role as a director,” it said. “During the past 12 months, Mr McLennan has made a series of calls that have harmed the standing and reputation of our game and led us to question his judgement and his understanding of high-performance sport.”
FOOTBALL
Thompson defends work
Fox Sports and Amazon host Charissa Thompson took to social media on Friday to clarify her comments on a podcast earlier this week that she “would make up” sideline reports during NFL games. Thompson, who hosts Fox’s NFL Kickoff show and Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football coverage, said in a post on Instagram that she did not fabricate quotes from players or coaches, and that she would report her observations on the sidelines. “Working in the media I understand how important words are and I chose wrong words to describe the situation. I’m sorry. I have never lied about anything or been unethical during my time as a sports broadcaster,” Thompson wrote. “In the absence of a coach providing any information that could further my report I would use information that I learned and saw during the first half to create my report. For example if a team was none for seven on third down, that would clearly be an area they need to improve on in the second half. In these instances I never attributed anything said to a player or coach.” Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel said that he had not heard a reporter fabricate any quotes by him. “I’m sure it’d be boring if they fabricated what I had to say. Don’t all laugh at one time, guys,” he said.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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