SKIING
Kilde out for season
Norway’s World Cup ski star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is to miss the remainder of the season after his heavy crash in Wengen, the national team doctor said. “The season is over, the ski season is finished,” Marc Jacob Strauss told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK on Sunday. “We’re now setting ourselves the goal for him to be ready for next season.” He said the medical team was “very happy with the extent” of the damage. “We feared much more serious injuries based on the TV images.” Kilde underwent surgery in nearby Bern on Saturday night after falling hard near the finish of the downhill won by Marco Odermatt.
SNOOKER
O’Sullivan wins 8th Masters
Ronnie O’Sullivan came from behind to claim a record-extending eighth Masters title with a brilliant 10-7 victory over Ali Carter on Sunday at Alexandra Palace. The world No. 1, nicknamed “The Rocket,” trailed 6-3 in the evening session, but then won six of the next seven frames before sealing his win. O’Sullivan claimed the ￡250,000 (US$318,403) first prize, while Carter took home ￡100,000. The 48-year-old adds a 23rd Triple Crown title to his collection and becomes the oldest champion, being also the youngest, having won his first Masters title in 1995 at the age of 19. He collected his eighth UK Championship last month, but had never previously won consecutive Triple Crown events in the same season.
MOTORSPORTS
Dakar enters final week
Sebastien Loeb started the Dakar Rally’s final week with his third stage win on Sunday to slash Spaniard Carlos Sainz’s overall lead in the Saudi Arabian desert to 19 minutes. The nine times world rally champion finished the seventh stage from Riyadh to al-Duwadimi seven minutes and six seconds clear of Toyota’s Brazilian Lucas Moraes with Qatar’s defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah third despite two punctures. Audi driver Sainz was fourth, losing 10-and-a-half minutes to Loeb’s Prodrive Hunter in the rally that started on Jan. 5 and ends on Friday. In the motorcycle category, Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo won the stage, while American Ricky Brabec retained the overall lead for Honda by a single second from Botswana’s Ross Branch after 2,865km of timed action. The gap, after 32-and-a-half hours of racing, comes down to about 24m. “The one second difference is crazy, that’s a tight race for sure,” Brabec said.
HORSE RACING
Macao ends horse racing
The government in Macao yesterday said that after more than 40 years, there would be no more horse racing in the territory and announced plans to terminate its contract with its jockey club in April. The gaming hub on China’s south coast near Hong Kong is a home to various gambling businesses, which form a major pillar of its economy, but its jockey club, acquired by a consortium led by late casino tycoon Stanley Ho in 1991, has faced financial woes in the past few years. Macanese Secretary for Administration and Justice Cheong Weng Chon told reporters that the Macao Horse Race Company had last year asked that the contract with the government be terminated, citing operational difficulties and the “impossibility of aligning horse racing activities with the current developmental needs of society.”
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
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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