TENNIS
Gasquet to retire
Former world No. 7 Richard Gasquet is to retire after the French Open next year, the Frenchman announced yesterday, bringing the curtain down on a 22-year career. The 38-year-old is a twice Wimbledon semi-finalist and a one-time US Open semi-finalist. His best outing at Roland Garros came in 2016 when he reached the quarter-finals. Gasquet has won 16 ATP Tour titles, with the latest coming in Auckland last year. "I think that it is the best moment for me to do it," Gasquet told French daily L’Equipe. "It is the best tournament to do it. It’s magnificent, we have the chance being French to be able to stop in these kind of incredible places. An end, it’s always complicated, all the former great players always told me it’s not easy to announce. You never know when, how, where. Here, in any case, it is obvious," he said.
Photo: AFP
RUGBY UNION
RA preparing counterclaim
Rugby Australia (RA) yesterday said it was preparing a counterclaim against axed Super Rugby club the Melbourne Rebels, alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in an increasingly bitter legal dispute. The move came after Rebels’ directors lodged a lawsuit this week against the governing body in the Australian Federal Court, demanding A$30 million (US$20 million) in damages to cover debts owed. It followed RA reclaiming the debt-ridden club’s playing license this year and shutting it down after 14 seasons in Super Rugby, opting against a rescue deal. It rejected the directors’ “ambit claims and attempts to shift blame for their financial mismanagement,” RA said in a statement. “RA is preparing a counter-claim against MRRU [Melbourne Rebels Rugby Union] and its directors for misleading and deceptive conduct concerning the financial position of MRRU dating back to 2018,” it said. “Based on that misleading and deceptive conduct, RA granted MRRU a participation license for the Super Rugby competition and provided associated funding and payments to MRRU. Had RA not been misled or deceived, it would not have provided MRRU with a participation license and thus not lost in excess of [A]$35 million that was paid to MRRU since at least July 1, 2018.”
Photo: AP
SOCCER
George Baldock dies
Panathinaikos and Greece international player George Baldock has died, his family said yesterday. He was 31. The English-born rightback had been found dead in his swimming pool at home in the southern Athens suburb of Glyfada, Greek media reported on Wednesday. “We can confirm that George has sadly passed away. As a family we are in shock at this terrible loss. We ask please that the media respect our privacy at this time,” the family said in a statement. Greece’s Super League and several clubs expressed their condolences. State TV ERT reported that the player was “at the bottom of the pool” and a bottle of alcohol was found at the scene. ANA said that Baldock’s wife, who was abroad, alerted the owner of the residence after unsuccessfully trying to reach the player on the phone. Of Greek origin through his father, he was called up by the Greece national team in 2022. He had 12 caps, but had not been selected for the team’s UEFA Nations League match against England at Wembley because of injury, ERT said.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one