ICE HOCKEY
Woeful Canucks fire Gillis
The Vancouver Canucks fired president and general manager Mike Gillis on Tuesday, a day after being eliminated from playoff contention. Gillis took over as general manager from the fired Dave Nonis after the 2007-2008 season. Under Gillis, the Canucks made the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to Boston. Since then, they have been in a steady decline, losing in the first round of the NHL playoffs for two straight seasons before missing the post-season entirely this year for the first time since 2008. Vancouver fans seemed fed up with the team’s downward spiral and chanted for Gillis’ sacking after Monday’s 3-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
soccer
I am not Syria jihadist: Diarra
France international Lassana Diarra on Tuesday denied rumors on social media sites that he has become a jihadist in the Syrian war. The Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder “denies in the most formal, the most categoric, the most absolute fashion that he has gone to Syria,” said Diarra’s French lawyer, Eric Dupond Moretti. “He has never set foot in Syria. It’s absurd. He is not a jihadist, he is a footballer with Lokomotiv Moscow,” the lawyer added. British tabloid the Daily Mirror this week reported social media rumors that Diarra had gone to Syria, where the war is now into a fourth year and has claimed the lives of more than 150,000 people, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Moretti said Diarra, 29, who has also played for Real Madrid, Chelsea and Arsenal, expected to take part in Lokomotiv’s Russian Premier League game on Sunday. Diarra won La Liga with Real Madrid in 2012 and last played for France in 2010.
SOCCER
Vegalta, Arnold part ways
J-League side Vegalta Sendai fired Australian manager Graham Arnold after a poor start to the season, they said on Wednesday. Vegalta said on their Web site that the decision to terminate Arnold’s contract after just five months had been taken by “mutual consent.” The 50-year-old was Australia’s assistant coach under Guus Hiddink at the 2006 World Cup and subsequently spent a brief spell in charge of the Socceroos. Sendai have taken just two points from six matches this season and sit second from bottom of the 18-team first division. Arnold blamed the poor results on an aging squad. “Many of the older players were resistant to change,” he told Australian broadcaster SBS. “I felt as if I was coaching someone else’s team and in the end I have my standards to uphold.”
However, his tactics were criticized in some quarters and the team’s defensive flaws were illustrated in Sunday’s 4-0 rout by the Urawa Reds, which was the tipping point for Velgata’s management. Assistant coach Susumu Watanabe will replace Arnold, the club said.
TENNIS
Delbonis bests Simon
Sixth-seeded Federico Delbonis of Argentina beat Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Grand Prix Hassan II on Tuesday in Casablanca, Morocco. Simon entered the main draw as a qualifier and struggled on his serve, getting only 45 percent of his first serves in. Delbonis next plays another qualifier, Filip Peliwo, after the Canadian won 7-6 (6), 6-3 against Italy’s Filippo Volandri. In other first-round matches, Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena downed fellow qualifier David Goffin of Belgium 6-2, 7-5; Albert Ramos of Spain won 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 against Moroccan Lamine Ouahab and big-serving Romanian Victor Hanescu advanced by beating wild card Hicham Khaddari of Morocco 7-6 (3), 6-3.
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