SOCCER
Three teams qualify
BSC Young Boys, Salzburg and AC Sparta Prague on Tuesday secured their places in the new-look, 36-team UEFA Champions League after coming through playoff ties. Swiss champions Young Boys returned to the competition following a 1-0 win away to Galatasaray SK that clinched a 4-2 aggregate victory. Salzburg are set for their sixth straight appearance in the main phase after a 1-1 draw at home to Dynamo Kyiv wrapped up the tie 3-1 on aggregate. Sparta Prague also made it through qualifying as a 2-0 win over Swedish side Malmo completed a 4-0 overall triumph for the Czech champions. The four remaining spots were to be filled yesterday before today’s draw.
FOOTBALL
NFL owners approve deal
NFL owners on Tuesday voted to allow private equity investment in a landmark move that could see billions of dollars in new funding pumped into the sport, the US-based league confirmed. At a meeting in Milwaukee, the owners of the NFL’s 32 teams approved a plan that would allow a group of handpicked private equity firms to purchase up to a 10 percent stake in a team. The vote represents a significant departure for the way NFL teams are funded. Historically, franchises have been run as family businesses or owned by wealthy individuals. The move to allow private equity investment potentially puts billions of dollars of new cash on the table to help pay for new stadiums and other projects for the most popular sport in the US.
HORSE RACING
Kelce buys Swift horse
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, the boyfriend of pop star Taylor Swift, has acquired an ownership share in three-year-old thoroughbred Swift Delivery, the Team Valor International stable said on Tuesday. Kelce, along with his friend Alex Zoldan and family, had purchased a “significant share” of Team Valor’s interest in the gray gelding, who is set to race in Saturday’s Toronto Cup Stakes. “It’s very exciting,” Team Valor International CEO Barry Irwin said. “I met him [Kelce] at the Kentucky Derby and got to spend some time with him and stuff, and we talked about horses and everything. When this horse came to light and it was owned by one of my partners already, with the name, I figured this has got to be a no-brainer.” Irwin said the horse was not named after Swift — just “a total coincidence.”
SOCCER
Dutch games called off
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb on Tuesday called off this weekend’s match between archrivals Feyenoord and AFC Ajax due to a police strike, saying public safety “cannot adequately be guaranteed.” The call comes after police unions on Monday said they would not be present at the highly charged game, which was scheduled to be played at Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam on Sunday. “The safety of players, as well as the public cannot be adequately guaranteed without the involvement of the police,” Aboutaleb said in a statement. A new date for the clash has not yet been set. Dutch police unions have run industrial actions for several months to protest the dropping of a scheme for early pensions for officers next year. Rivalries among the hardcore support of both clubs has led to clashes, resulting in a ban on visiting supporters for the fixture, called De Klassieker in Dutch.
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
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
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