TABLE TENNIS
Lin Yun-ju falls in rankings
Taiwanese Olympian Lin Yun-ju’s world ranking in men’s singles fell from 12th to 14th, the lowest since July 2019, the International Table Tennis Federation announced yesterday. The rankings are based on the sum of a player’s best eight results in events played over the preceding 12 months. Lin was penalized with zero points for two events after being absent from several World Table Tennis (WTT) tournaments. The 23-year-old has a chance to bounce back this week as he seeks to defend his title at the WTT Champions in Frankfurt. Lin on Monday won his round-of-32 match against France’s Alexis Lebrun, and today faces Germany’s Dang Qiu. Taiwan’s Kao Cheng-jui placed 24th in the rankings, unchanged from last week, while Chuang Chih-yuan rose one spot to 42nd and Feng Yi-hsin dropped one place to 50th. In women’s singles rankings, Cheng I-ching rose one spot to eighth, while Huang Yi-hua dropped one to 35th.
AUSSIE RULES
Umpire suspended for costume
Umpire Leigh Haussen has been suspended for dressing up as Osama bin Laden at an end-of-season function, the Australian Football League said on Monday. He would not be allowed to officiate during round one of next season as punishment after attending a restaurant as the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The theme of the function, in a private room at the venue in September, was “characters from the 2000s.” “I am sorry. I made an error of judgement. I never intended to offend anyone,” Haussen said in a statement. Last month six Greater Western Sydney players were banned for periods of up to four matches and seven others fined stemming from another function, themed “controversial couples.” The league said some players performed skits connected to their costumes that it considered “completely unacceptable.”
FOOTBALL
Kelce sorry for spiking phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized during ESPN’s pregame show on Monday night for grabbing the cellphone of an unruly fan and spiking it to the ground before the Ohio State University-Pennsylvania State University game on Saturday. “In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before ESPN’s NFL broadcast of a Kansas City Chiefs’ game featuring his brother, Travis Kelce. “I fell short this week.” Video on social media showed him walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania, when a fan began to heckle him. Jason Kelce grabbed the fan’s phone and threw it to the ground, then turned to confront the man. Another fan appeared to step between them before the altercation could escalate. “I think everybody has seen on social media what happened this week,” Kelce said. “Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it.”
ATHLETICS
NY sets marathon record
The New York City Marathon on Sunday broke the record for the world’s largest marathon, with 55,646 runners crossing the finish line in Central Park, organizers said. That beat the record set by the Berlin Marathon in September, when 54,280 completed the fellow World Marathon Major. The five-borough race included the most female finishers ever with 24,731, organizers 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
‘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
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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