CRICKET
Maxwell under investigation
Cricket Australia is investigating Glenn Maxwell, a spokesperson said yesterday, after the star all-rounder was reportedly hospitalized following a night out. The governing body wants to quiz the 35-year-old about a recent incident in Adelaide. Australian media outlets reported that Maxwell was taken to a hospital, after attending a concert on Friday of the band Six & Out, made up of former cricket greats including Brett Lee. “Cricket Australia is aware of an incident involving Glenn Maxwell in Adelaide at the weekend and is seeking further information,” a spokesperson said. Maxwell has been stood down for the upcoming 50-overs series against the West Indies early next month, but Cricket Australia said the decision is not linked to the incident in Adelaide. Maxwell missed a World Cup match in India after he was injured falling off a golf cart. He also broke his leg in November 2022 when he slipped at a friend’s birthday party.
SOCCER
Italian legend Riva dies
Italian soccer mourned one of its most important ever players on Monday after iconic striker Luigi “Gigi” Riva died aged 79. Nicknamed “Roar of Thunder,” Riva is Italy’s all-time top goalscorer and famous in the Mediterranean nation for firing Cagliari Calcio to their only league title in 1970. “Forever GIGI RIVA,” Cagliari wrote on X, accompanied by a picture of their hero in the prime of his career. “Italian football is in mourning because a genuine national monument has left us today,” Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina said. Riva’s death is of such significance that a minute’s silence was held before the start of the second half of the Italian Super Cup final, played on Monday in Riyadh. “Ciao Gigi” was displayed on the screens at al-Awwal Park in the Saudi Arabian capital, alongside a picture of Riva. He had been hospitalized in Cagliari, where he stayed after the end of his playing career, reportedly after sustaining a heart attack over the weekend. Riva scored 35 times in just 42 appearances for his country, with whom he won the 1968 European Championship and reached the World Cup final two years later.
SOCCER
Udinese ban fan for abuse
Udinese are to ban for life a man found to have racially abused France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, the Serie A club announced on Monday. Maignan was abused during Udinese’s 3-2 defeat to AC Milan on Saturday, which was halted for five minutes in the first half after repeated offensive remarks from behind the goal he was defending. “Udinese Calcio has identified the first individual responsible for discriminatory behavior towards AC Milan player Mike Maignan,” the club said in a statement. “This person will face a lifetime ban from attending any Udinese Calcio matches. This ban is effective immediately.” Earlier on Monday, Italian media reported a 46-year-old man from near Udine had been identified, and he is believe to be the same man in a video which circulated widely on social media. In that video someone off camera can clearly be heard shouting the same racist insult at Maignan multiple times after Lazar Samardzic scored Udinese’s first-half equalizer, netted after play had resumed.
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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