MOTORSPORT
Four killed in rally crash
Four people were killed and several others including two children injured on Sunday when a driver competing in the Esztergom Nyerges Rally in Hungary skidded off the road and crashed into spectators, authorities said. It was not clear why the vehicle veered off the road in Bajot, police said in a statement. Two spectators were seriously injured, including one child who was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, the MTI news agency quoted paramedics at the site as saying. Six other people, including one child, sustained minor injuries and received on-site treatment, the paramedics said.
SOCCER
N Korea match canceled
Japan look poised to reach the final stage of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup without kicking a ball after FIFA said their match at North Korea would not be rescheduled. North Korea were supposed to stage the qualifier today in the capital, Pyongyang, but five days before the game, officials abruptly said the isolated country could not play host without giving a reason. At the weekend FIFA said it “shall neither be played nor rescheduled,” citing lack of space in the international soccer calendar.
SKIING
Odermatt wins fourth globe
Swiss standout Marco Odermatt on Sunday earned his fourth World Cup crystal globe of the season in anticlimactic circumstances as the final race was canceled due to bad weather. Odermatt’s first downhill title saw the 26-year-old become only the fourth male skier to win four classifications in one season and the first since Hermann Maier did it in 2001. “Something very special,” Odermatt said. “I spoke to Hermann two years ago in summer, when I won my first globes and he told me it is cool when you can’t hold all the globes. So I think this will be a good feeling.”
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Severino disqualified for bite
Flyweight Igor Severino was disqualified on his UFC debut on Saturday after biting opponent Andre Lima during their Fight Night bout in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the second round of the fight between the two Brazilians, Lima yelled and signaled for the referee to stop the bout. The 25-year-old held up his left arm to show the bite mark and officials reviewed the footage before making the decision to disqualify Severino. UFC president Dana White later told combat sports Web site keviniole.com that Severino would be cut from the UFC. “We were fighting well, and then at some point, for some reason, he decided to bite me,” Lima, speaking through a translator, told reporters after the fight. “I went down, and as I was getting up, I yelled because I felt sharp pain. I thought it was the fence at first. I thought: ‘There was no way he would have bit me,’ especially with the way the fight was going.”
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
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
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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