TENNIS
Snake stops play
Dominic Thiem’s Brisbane International qualifying match yesterday against Australian James McCabe was suspended for 40 minutes after a snake slithered courtside. McCabe had just wrapped up the first set 6-2 against the 2020 US Open champion when the reptile was spotted among electrical wires on the side of the court in front of spectators. Play was halted until a snake catcher arrived and teased it into a bag. When play resumed, Thiem had to save three match points before leveling the match by winning the second set tiebreak. The 30-year-old then went on to clinch the deciding set for a 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 win. “I really love animals, especially exotic ones, but they said it was a really poisonous snake and it was close to the ballkids, so it was a really dangerous situation,” Thiem said after the match. “It’s something that has never happened to me and is something I’ll definitely never forget.” The snake was identified as a 50cm eastern brown snake, one of Australia’s most deadly reptiles.
Photo: EPA-EFE
SOCCER
Crammed schedule criticized
The crammed playing schedule might force players to take legal action, Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive officer Maheta Molango said as he highlighted growing concerns about player welfare. Under the new format from the 2024-2025 season, the UEFA Champions League group stage is to expand to 36 teams from 32, playing in a single-league format. Each team will play a minimum of eight matches, all against different opponents. A host of Premier League managers have been vocal about the busy schedule and its impact on players. “I feel like we’ve reached a stage where people are ready to take legal action, where people are ready to take tangible action on the pitch to try to resolve it, because it’s a sad state of affairs,” Molango told Sky News. “I think it’s a defeat for football when the players need to take the justice in their own hands because they don’t feel protected.” FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup, planned for 2025 and set to feature 32 teams, is to be played from June 15 to July 13, while a new Intercontinental Cup is to be played annually starting next year.
MOTORSPORTS
Gil de Ferran dies
French-born Brazilian driver and Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran has died after a heart attack, the Brazilian Automobile Confederation (CBA) said on Friday. He was 56. De Ferran, who was working for McLaren as one of its directors, had a heart attack at a private motor racing club in Opa-locka, Florida, the confederation said. He was “promptly taken to a local hospital, but did not survive,” it said. De Ferran won the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car World Series driving for Team Penske. “On behalf of myself and the entire CBA family, we pray to God to receive our brother with all glory and to support his family, friends and millions of fans around the world,” CBA president Giovanni Guerra said in a statement.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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