Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun has been threatened with a three-year ban by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the main body governing men’s professional tennis, because he has registered to play in the China Open, but has instead opted to compete in the Asian Games.
That has put Lu, who is a legitimate contender for gold in the Asian Games men’s singles, in a bind.
Lu hoped to compete in the China Open, a tournament being jointly organized by both the ATP and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) that begins on Monday next week, but the Asian Games singles finals is not being held until Tuesday next week.
Photo: AFP
Had Lu reached the Asian Games final, he could have opted to drop out of the China Open or try to have his first-round match rescheduled for Wednesday next week, but the ATP decided to take a hard line on the issue and issued an ultimatum to the world No. 43 that if he did not report for the China Open on Monday next week he would be banned from ATP events for three years and fined US$100,000, Lu and his team said.
Others said to have received similar ultimatums, such as Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan, and Andrey Golubev and Alekstandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, have pulled out of the Asian Games to avoid the sanction and were not included in the men’s singles draw, but Lu decided to compete and has been made the top seed, but he knows that if he reaches the semi-finals on Sunday and wins, he might have to forfeit a shot at the gold medal on Tuesday next week.
“I can deal with the fine, that doesn’t matter, but I can’t accept the ban,” Lu was quoted as saying by the Apple Daily. “We were shocked when we received the notification. It came just an hour before registration for individual events. Now all that can be done is to play until I can’t play anymore.”
The ATP’s threatened ban seems excessive considering that previous bans for doping or betting on tennis have not exceeded two years.
Also facing the same situation, the WTA has taken a much more open position, allowing players competing at the Asian Games flexibility on when they have to report for the China Open or pulling out of the competition, Lu’s team said.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS