SOCCER
‘Superclasico’ abandoned
Argentina’s friendly against Brazil was abandoned before kickoff due to a floodlight failure at the Centenario Stadium in the northern Argentine city of Resistencia on Wednesday. The teams, picked only from domestic leagues, were due to meet for the second time in two weeks after Brazil won the first match of the “Superclasico of the Americas” doubleheader 2-1 in Goiania, Brazil, on Sept. 19. The players took the field and lined up for the anthems, but Chilean referee Enrique Osses delayed kickoff until full lighting could be restored after a generator failed. The teams spent more than half an hour on the pitch warming up and chatting among themselves until they were led off again. With no back-up generator available in the vicinity, Osses abandoned the match an hour after the scheduled kickoff time, embarrassing the Argentine Football Association, who had organized the match in Resistencia.
SOCCER
Finance police raid Napoli
Serie A club SSC Napoli came under scrutiny on Wednesday after the finance police raided the club in relation to suspicions of financial foul play, media reports said. According to the ANSA news agency, police, who took away a number of documents from the club, were acting on a mandate from the public prosecutor in Naples. The raid was carried out by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, a wing of the armed forces which deals with financial crime and smuggling, and comes under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Reports said the documents seized are in relation to an investigation into the purchase and sale of rights on the performances of team players, the relationship with player agents and any related financial movements. Napoli, whose president is former filmmaker Aurelio de Laurentiis, played down the search through their lawyer Mattia Grassani. “It’s a case of gathering information and obtaining documents, but nobody is being investigated and there are no accusations,” Grassani said.
BASKETBALL
Anti-flopping rule panned
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) plans to file a grievance and unfair labor practice charge after the league announced an anti-flopping rule in a bid to curb the number of simulated fouls. The NBPA’s decision was in response to an NBA statement earlier on Wednesday that players who flop on the court in an effort to fool referees into calling undeserved fouls on opposing players will be fined. “The NBA is not permitted to unilaterally impose new economic discipline against the players without first bargaining with the union,” NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said in a statement. “We believe that any monetary penalty for an act of this type is inappropriate and without precedent in our sport or any other sport.” The league said it would introduce an incremental system of penalties, starting with a warning for first offenders then a series of fines beginning at US$5,000 and rising to US$30,000 for a fifth violation.
SWIMMING
Hosszu rules the pool
Katinka Hosszu continued to rule the pool as she finished the FINA World Cup series opener in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a haul of eight gold medals and two bronze on Wednesday. On the second night at Dubai’s Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex, the Hungarian — in her first season as a professional swimmer — collected four individual golds and later picked up another in the new mixed team 4x50m freestyle relay.
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