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.
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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