ALPINE SKILING
Grugger breathes on his own
Austrian Hans Grugger, in an induced coma since he suffered a crash during training in Kitzbuehel, Austria, two weeks ago, was breathing on his own and increasingly opening his eyes, doctors said on Monday. Grugger’s breathing improved significantly so that he was taken off the ventilator, Alexandra Kofler, neurosurgeon and medical director at Innsbruck hospital, said. “The patient is now breathing on his own, but he is still very exhausted and sleepy. He is increasingly awake and already shows partial reactions. He keeps opening his eyes and can squeeze one’s hand if encouraged to.” Grugger, 29, suffered a crash during training on Jan. 20.
SOCCER
US cancel friendly in Egypt
US soccer authorities said on Monday that the US’ friendly match scheduled in Cairo for Tuesday has been canceled because of political unrest in Egypt. The match between the US and the reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions Egypt had been announced on Dec. 13 last year, and would have been the first ever in Egypt for a US side. “Due to the current situation, all parties agreed it was best to cancel the match,” US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said on Monday. The next game for the US, who are preparing this year for the North American continental championship the Gold Cup in June, will be against Argentina on March 27.
FOOTBALL
Union, league agree to talks
In a bid to “intensify” labor talks, the NFL and the union representing its players have agreed to a series of talks starting on Saturday in the Dallas area. NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith and league commissioner Roger Goodell met in New York on Monday to discuss a range of issues related to a new collective bargaining agreement. “As part of a process to intensify negotiations, they agreed to hold a formal bargaining session with both negotiating teams on Saturday,” a joint statement said. NFL owners and players are trying to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires March 4 in an attempt to avert a potential lock-out of players.
ATHLETICS
Liu returns to Europe
Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang will compete in Europe for the first time in three years at next week’s indoor meeting in Duesseldorf, Germany, organizers said on Monday. The 2004 Athens Olympic champion, who has set his sights on reclaiming his title in London next year after limping out injured in front of his home fans in Beijing three years ago, will use the meet in an effort to find his top form. “Liu Xiang’s participation in Duesseldorf proves the world-wide importance of the Duesseldorf PSD Bank Meeting,” Duesseldorf’s Lord Mayor Dirk Elbers said.
TENNIS
Malaysia exits Fed Cup
Malaysia has pulled out of this week’s Fed Cup women’s team tennis event after failing to find any players good enough to compete, an official of the Southeast Asian nation’s tennis body said yesterday. The Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) said they had reviewed some players, but found none suitable to don the national colors. “We had a look at a few players, including two Swedish-based Malaysian-born talents, but they were not good enough,” LTAM executive secretary Ibrahim Abu Bakar told Malaysia’s New Straits Times. “We withdrew from the tournament mainly because we could not get the best players to represent the country.”
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with