CRICKET
Taiwan players eye Iceland
Three Taiwan-based players this week said that they were interested in an invitation to play in a T20 tournament in Iceland in July next year. Iceland Cricket on Tuesday wrote on social media that it was hoping to host Munich Cricket Club. “Unfortunately, they now cannot come, so we have a space for a touring team then,” the governing body said. It would be five T20 matches, one against each of Iceland’s domestic clubs, from July 4 to 6 in Reykjavik, it said. On the Taiwan Cricket Facebook page — which is not operated by the national cricket association — Chetan Pundora and Bivan Singh Waraich yesterday wrote: “I am in,” while Vishwajit Tawar posted a gif indicating that he was packed and ready to depart. All three are top performers in Taiwan. “Iceland itself is a fascinating land, a land of northern lights, and I am sure those lights will shine brighter above a cricket ground,” Pundora told the Taipei Times later in the day. “Let’s play cricket in beautiful Iceland and explore it together.” The national cricket association had not responded to a request for comment as of press time last night.
FOOTBALL
Bill Bergey dies aged 79
Bill Bergey, a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played in a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles, died on Wednesday, the team announced. He was 79. His son, Jake, posted on social media that Bergey died of cancer. Bergey had been open about his fight with the disease over the past few years. Bergey, who was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2009, said he had a form of jaw cancer since 2021. “I didn’t give it the old: ‘Why me?’ or anything like that,” he said last year. “I just thought that I had to fight it just like I would fight anything else that I needed to fight.” Bergey was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969 and made one Pro Bowl appearance for them before he was traded ahead of the 1974 season. Bergey’s career took off in Philadelphia and he became one of the more popular Eagles players in his era. He made the Pro Bowl in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978, and was named an All-Pro in 1974 and 1975. Team owner Jeffrey Lurie said Bergey “gained the respect of players and coaches across the league for his blue-collar work ethic and hard-nosed play. Bill exemplified what it meant to be an Eagle in every way, and proudly represented the team in the community well after his playing days were over.”
SOCCER
City at risk: Guardiola
Manchester City are at risk of missing out on next season’s UEFA Champions League due to their dip in form, manager Pep Guardiola said. City, who are looking to qualify for Europe’s top club competition for a 15th straight season, have won just one of their past eight Premier League games and are seventh, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool. Guardiola’s side are four points behind Nottingham Forest, who occupy the fourth and final Champions League qualification berth. “When I said before, people laughed. They said: ‘Qualifying for the Champions League is not a big success,’ but I know it because it happens with clubs in this country,” Guardiola said. “They were dominant for many years and after they were many years not qualifying for the Champions League. The one team that has been in the Champions League for the past years has been Manchester City. Now we are at risk.”
Champagne corks often pop and loud, boisterous cheers are usually heard around Constitution Dock when the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race line honors winner finishes in the Tasmanian state capital. There were no such celebrations this year when the defending champions on board LawConnect won the race in the early hours of yesterday morning, as it came about 24 hours after two sailors died on separate boats in sail boom accidents two hours apart on a storm-ravaged first night of the race. LawConnect, a 100-foot super maxi skippered by Australian tech millionaire Christian Beck, sailed up the River Derwent at just after 2:30am.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Chess great Magnus Carlsen on Friday quit the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York after governing body FIDE barred the Norwegian from participating in a round at the tournament for wearing jeans. FIDE said in a statement that its dress code regulations were designed to “ensure professionalism and fairness for all participants.” It issued Carlsen a US$200 fine and gave him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the world No. 1 rejected, it said. Carlsen said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. “I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like
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