■ SWIMMING
Rice delays departure for US
Triple Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice will delay her departure to the US for the Pan Pacific championships to take more time to recover from a shoulder injury. Rice had been set to fly to the US with the 59-member Australian team yesterday, but she will remain behind in Brisbane to have treatment on her shoulder, which has been bothering her since before last month’s Australian short course championships. Rice will arrive in California on Sunday, two days before the Pan Pacific meet begins in Irvine, California, missing Australia’s pre-meet camp in San Diego.
■ BASKETBALL
MJ to present for Pippen
Fittingly, Scottie Pippen will have Michael Jordan by his side again when he goes into the Hall of Fame. Pippen will be presented by his former Chicago Bulls teammate when he is inducted on Friday night. Each inductee is presented by a current Hall of Famer. Jordan was enshrined last year. Pippen will be inducted twice, as he and Jordan — who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles — were part of the 1992 Dream Team that highlights the class along with Karl Malone and the 1960 US Olympic team.
■ BASEBALL
Mariners fire Wakamatsu
The last-place Seattle Mariners have fired manager Don Wakamatsu. The team announced the move hours before Monday night’s game against Oakland. Seattle entered the day 42-70, the second-worst record in the American League. The Mariners began the season with expectations of their first postseason in nine years, following last year’s winning season in Wakamatsu’s first season. However, a poorly constructed roster has produced the worst offense in baseball and doomed them to last place in the AL West.
■ HOCKEY
Kovalchuk contract voided
An arbitrator ruled on Monday that the NHL acted properly in voiding Ilya Kovalchuk’s landmark US$102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils. The league had rejected the 17-year contract, saying the longest deal in league history violated its salary cap. The NHL Players’ Association filed a grievance against the league. A hearing was held last week and arbitrator Richard Bloch sided with the NHL in his ruling. The decision puts Kovalchuk back on the free agent market. The contract would have paid Kovalchuk US$95 million over the first 10 years and only US$550,000 over the last five years. The low salary at the end was implemented to lower the team’s hit against the salary cap. The NHL wants to eliminate this kind of “retirement contract.”
■ SOCCER
Sahara shelves Liverpool bid
Indian finance and media giant Sahara India Pariwar has shelved its plan to acquire English Premier League club Liverpool. “The deal for acquisition of the Liverpool Football Club was in our consideration in the recent past. However, after considering all related factors, we have decided not to go ahead with it, at least for the time being,” Sahara spokesman Abhijit Sarkar said in a statement carried by Indian media yesterday. Sahara, which sponsors the Indian cricket and hockey teams and owns the Pune cricket franchise of the Indian Premier League, had been among a raft of bidders linked by British media to Liverpool, who were put up for sale by US owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett in April. Sahara had discussions with Manchester United last year about a potential shirt sponsorship, but no deal materialized.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set